The bar at Nantahala Brewing Company
The brewery is housed in an old Quonset hut left by the government after the Army Corps of Engineers built nearby Fontana Dam. It stands directly across the street from the Great Smoky Mountains Railway depot, where tourists can ride the old railway into the mountains on day trips. From the front deck of the brewery, patrons can watch as the old steam engines roll into the station.
The building stands next to Mike Marsden’s bar “Across the Trax.” Marsden had always thought it would be a great place for a brewery. That’s when he met Chris and Christina Collier, a homebrewing couple who dreamed of opening their own brewery. Soon, the three were sketching up plans. A short year later, Nantahala Brewing Company opened its doors, brewing on used equipment from South Carolina’s RJ Rockers brewpub.
The brewery has an enormous tasting room that opened in 2011. Its indoor façade—complete with a two-story balcony, siding, a shingled roof, and an awning over the long bar that runs in front of the entire brewery—makes patrons feel as if they’re outside,. Tall tables and multiple places for games including darts and cornhole dot the brewery. A projection television decorates one wall, complementing the two flat-screen televisions over the bar.
Nantahala opened in 2009 and added its taproom in 2010. Its beers are now distributed around the state of North Carolina.
Craft beer at its source
The Brewers Association, the professional association of brewers and breweries, defines a craft brewer as small, independent, and traditional.
Small: Based on taxation laws, a small brewery is one that makes under 6 million barrels of beer per year. Very few small breweries come anywhere near that mark. The 10 largest craft brewers in the country averaged 460,000 barrels in 2010.
Independent: A brewery must not be owned or controlled by another alcoholic industry member that is itself not a craft brewer.
Traditional: A brewery must have an all-malt flagship beer or have at least 50 percent of its volume in all-malt beers or in beers that use adjuncts to enhance, rather than lighten, flavor.
The following market segments are defined within the category of “craft beer”:
Microbrewery: A brewery that makes less than 15,000 barrels of beer each year. Most small breweries in the country are microbreweries.
Regional brewery: A brewery that makes between 15,000 and 6 million barrels of beer each year.
What defines a craft beer, however, is ultimately in the mind of the beer drinker. For many people, craft is about having a full-flavored beer. For others, it’s about artisan craftsmanship, or about breweries that use the best possible ingredients. As more of the large beer companies produce craftstyle beers, an increasingly common discussion point centers around what exactly makes a beer a craft beer. In the end, it is up to you.
