The garage doors flew open, the band rocked and a specially-made double IPA flowed as a packed house welcomed the newest member of Asheville, North Carolina’s frothy craft beer scene.
This was Catawba Brewing Co.’s official grand opening, though it was really more of a rebirth for the 15-year-old company. Based in Morganton, N.C., about an hour east of Beer City USA (Asheville), Catawba’s longtime presence in local bars included flagship brands like Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale, Firewater IPA and White Zombie Wit.
In 2013, the brewery decided it was time to actually set up shop in Asheville, with plans to build a satellite boutique brewery and tasting room in Biltmore Village—the community adjacent to the world-renowned Biltmore Estate and its one million annual visitors.
While permitting issues with the city of Asheville delayed the start of that project, Catawba opened a temporary tasting room across the street, where customers will be able to watch the new building go up.
Billy Pyatt, who owns Catawba along with his brother, Scott and wife, Jetta, said that when the team sat down to discuss the future of the business, their vision was clear.
“We realized how much we love western North Carolina (WNC) and how much we loved Asheville,” Billy Pyatt said. “We sold our first kegs here in 1999, and what we realized is we’re still pretty strong up here and we’re still pretty well-known up here, but with all the diversity of breweries here, and all of the buy local, drink local, make local, it wasn’t going to be long until we were kind of pushed out of the Asheville brewery club, and we didn’t want that. We want people to understand that this is our oldest market and it’s our best market. We are an Asheville beer. We’re made in WNC, my family is six generations from WNC and we’re not leaving.”
The Pyatts kicked things into high gear in 2013. They initiated a rebranding effort, which includes a new blue logo depicting rivers, mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway—and when flipped upside down cleverly reveals a geographic outline of North and South Carolina.
The company also dropped the word “Valley” between “Catawba” and “Brewing” in the company name. That put more emphasis on the word Catawba, which is a river, a town, a county, a college and a federally-recognized Native American tribe in the region.
”We want to represent WNC, and Catawba is a well-respected name that is used all over the area,” Pyatt said. “Plus, eliminating ‘Valley’ allows people to know that we’re not just a flatlander’s beer—we’re made up here.”
Last summer, the Pyatts also hired a new head brewer, Kevin Sondey, whose resume includes a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival and stints at such notable breweries as Highland, Dogfish Head and Stoudt’s.
Sondey is excited to get started in the new brewery, which is slated to open sometime later this year, where he’ll be able to spread his wings and brew personal favorites like English milds, German helles lagers and assortment of other one-offs on the new seven-barrel system.
“Right now in Morganton, the cans have become so popular—we’re a production brewery there for all intents and purposes,” Sondey said. “We’re doing 10 to 12 brews a week, and we squeeze as many specialties in as we can. But, here in Asheville we’re going to have the ability to do nothing but specialties and experimental stuff. We’re going to play with all the new hops, do some (single-hop) beers in a base recipe to learn and introduce new flavors. We’ll also start processing all of our barrel stuff here.”
In the meantime, the temporary tasting room boasts one of the largest tap selections of any brewery in town, an assortment of 13 beers, including Sondey’s wildly popular Brewtal Double IPA—an easy-drinking hop bomb produced specially to commemorate the opening of the Asheville tasting room.
Dubbed a “big beer for a big beer city” at 8.8 percent alcohol by volume, Brewtal’s signature dry hop is Mandarina Bavaria—a citrusy daughter to the famous Cascade. It’s one of several recently released hop varieties Sondey contracted for the opening of the new Asheville facility, which will feature a mezzanine tap room and outdoor beer garden.
And while the endeavor to retrofit an existing building on the property has been delayed due to flood-plain issues, the Pyatts consider the change in plans a possible blessing in disguise as they’re now designing their dream set-up from the ground up.
The current tasting room resides in a former tire store/auto repair center with cement floors, high ceilings and roll-up doors—a somewhat rough space that some tidying up and a little love has already transformed into a favorite hangout among locals on the heels of Biltmore’s tourist rush.
The operation has helped introduce new people to Catawba, and reminded the brewery’s Asheville faithful that Catawba has arrived to become a legitimate player in town.
“It’s funny, but the rise of the industry kind of left Catawba behind,” Sondey said. “Up until 2013 we only did 2,500 barrels, and that’s for a brewery that’s been in business for 15 years, so (the Pyatts) have really stepped up in getting us caught up with the rest of the industry. If the numbers continue like they’ve been for the first three months of this year, we’re going to more than double production this year, and I’m basing that on the slow season.”
Gary Glancy is a longtime, award-winning journalist living just outside the booming craft-beer town of Asheville, N.C. He left the newspaper industry in 2012 to embark on a beer-centered six-week road trip across the U.S., culminating in his first visit to the Great American Beer Festival®, and then follow his passion by pursuing a career in the craft-brew industry. A Cicerone® Certified Beer Server, Glancy is now a brewery tour guide and bartender for The Poe House craft beer/fine wine tavern in Hendersonville, N.C., and a beer-tender for Catawba Brewing Co.’s new Asheville tasting room and eventual satellite brewery.
CraftBeer.com is fully dedicated to small and independent U.S. breweries. We are published by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers. Stories and opinions shared on CraftBeer.com do not imply endorsement by or positions taken by the Brewers Association or its members.
Share Post