00:00:00EL: Can we have you say and spell your name, and also let us know your title
here, and the name of the brewery.
KC: Okay. I'm KC, I'm with Southern Appalachian Brewery. I'm an owner manager.
Pretty much do everything except brew the beer. And my name is k-e-l-l-y c-u-b-b-i-n.
EL: Awesome. So today is Wednesday, June 27th and we are at Southern Appalachian
Brewing in Hendersonville, North Carolina. So Kelly, can you tell us a little
bit about yourself? Where are you from, and how did you get here?
KC: Sure. From Michigan, suburbs of Detroit, and I grew up there and went to
college in Ann Arbor. And was an art major. And I moved to Chicago, and was
there about 10 years. My husband and I just bought our first house, and he found
00:01:00the beginning of this brewery for sale, and we'd always loved the area, and
wanted to get closer to nature so here we are.
EL: So what do you guys ... had you come here before? How did you know this area?
KC: My in-laws live in South Carolina.
EL: Okay.
KC: And we would drive through, we also had a friend who got married in Virginia
and spent some time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and we just absolutely loved it.
EL: Very cool. So can you talk a little bit about the history of Southern
Appalachian prior to your purchase?
KC: Prior to us? Yes, so they were really pioneers, it started as Appalachian
Brewing Company, back in 2003, and that was really, really early on for the
Western North Carolina beer movement. The owners Jamie Sellers, and a friend of
his set it up on their property. They went and got real big time, I think,
quicker than they had imagined. They had actually been talking to the Charlotte
Bobcats about their Bobcat Ale. You know, way back in 2004, 2005, and I think it
00:02:00grew a little bit too much for them as retirement jobs. And they actually put it
for sale online, and they had up to that point they were widely distributed
Brevard, Asheville, they had brand recognition, just draft only and then they
put it for sale online.
EL: Yeah, and that's how you guys...?
KC: That's how we found it.
EL: You guys found it.
KC: Yeah. Yep.
EL: Yeah, so what was kind of the ultimate piece that led you to purchase that...?
KC: I sort of joke it was my husband's pre-midlife crisis, because we had
literally just settled down in a home and he found it for sale and he said ?I'm
not ready, I want to try this.? And we had been looking at doing it in Chicago,
where we were living, with his friends, and one of his brothers and the three
tier system back then was so different, it really wasn't friendly to the brewery
system. And the cost was just exorbitant, so finding this was kind of, I guess a
00:03:00good little find back in 2006, because it seemed no risk to us. It was an
established brand, they had accounts, they had recipes, they had equipment, and
you know, it was really easy back then to get some small loans through family,
and kind of take a risk back then when there wasn't so much competition, I guess.
EL: Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned wanting to come to the area but what was
it about craft brewing? Particularly at that time, that like you said that was
pretty early on.
KC: It was so early on, and I have to admit when I was in Chicago, my friends
and I, we went out for wine and cocktails. You know I thought it was fancy
getting a Blue Moon or a Hacker-Pschorr and we had a lot of interesting feedback
from friends, especially my girlfriends. But my husband had been a home brewer
and I don't know why. We just said ?What could go wrong? We don't know anybody,?
00:04:00you know, "we've really only home brewed, how could this go wrong?" And it just
seemed like such a small risk. We weren't really starting from scratch. Which
seemed really beneficial at that time.
EL: Yeah. So as you kind of were making that transition and moving into the
business are there people or resources that you look at as mentors, resources
you really relied on?
KC: Absolutely. I think especially so early on, I mean, we bought the brewery
and moved here in 2006. Our very second day after we unloaded the U-Haul was
Brewgrass, and it was very overwhelming to say the least. My husband had helped
brew the beer with the previous owners but we had no idea. They set us up next
to highland. Highland had a huge stand up bar, they had uniforms, you know, we
had, I think the chairs the festival gave us and our old artwork. So luckily, I
think it's still the case now but back then everyone embraced each other,
00:05:00because we all were kind of figuring it out together. And there weren't really
any guidelines, and there was no protocol and everyone just wanted to support
the industry. So early on I would say Mike Rangel with Asheville Brewing. Huge
supporter, take care of yourself, take care of your product, but you're more
important. Great advice and I'd say Sheryl [Rudd] from Heinzelmannchen [Brewery
in Sylva], she was really one of the first and only women in the brewing
industry, back in 2006. And she was really supportive, and it was another
husband and wife team.
EL: Right.
KC: So we got a lot of great advice from them, I'd say John [Stuart] at Green
Man, huge supporter. Everyone just really pulled together.
EL: Yeah. Yeah. So when you guys originally bought the brewery, you had
wholesale operations in Fletcher?
KC: Yes. So we had to move it from the property where the owners had started it.
EL: Okay.
KC: And we went to Fletcher completely wholesale, nothing open to the public. We
00:06:00were actually behind Budweiser of Asheville. And it was really a chance for us
to change the recipes, improve on them, try to get more accounts, and see if we
could really compete in this market as it was growing.
EL: Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about some of the ways that you and
your husband really put your own stamp on the brand?
KC: Absolutely, we changed the name a little bit, there was a little, not
competition, but there was an existing company out of Pennsylvania, Appalachian
Brewing, and the previous owners knew about it but everything was so small and
different then, and in the 4 or 5 years since they had started, Appalachian
Brewing out of Pennsylvania was opening more tasting rooms, widening their
distribution, so we changed the name to Appalachian Craft Brewery, really
wanting to hone in on craft beer, because that was really becoming the term, as
the industry was growing, and we updated artwork, we completely changed the
00:07:00recipes and overhauled and really started to add to the product line and make
our distribution more personal and my husband was delivering the beer in his
beat up pickup, and I was doing sales calls on my lunch break, you know?
EL: Right.
KC: So trying to really get the mom-and-pop part and try to get that through to
customers. Hey, we're making this and anything you need we're the whole company
at this point.
EL: Right. So when you did decide to move here to Hendersonville, what led you
to choose this location?
KC: So it's actually a little embarrassing, why we chose Hendersonville, we you
know, started in 2006, we thought we'd end up in Asheville, and every year
another brewery opened. Just one a year back then. But that seemed like a lot,
so I actually used to work next to Green Man's Dirty Jacks, and my husband came
to pick me up from work and saw a brew house being delivered to a building that
we had been thinking about, and we just went over to Dirty Jacks and had a beer
and we said "It's 7 breweries, that's over saturation." Which is comical now, I
00:08:00mean there what 28, 30.
EL: At least.
KC: But we just felt back then, everyone had their home- their brewery, their
home base. Why compete? Everyone here is doing great stuff. And it got
allegiances and loyalty. Who are we to try to step on that? So we'd been making
friends with people in Hendersonville, we'd been doing events, fundraisers, we
had really warm reception here and we kind of redirected, we looked at Brevard,
and we looked at Hendersonville, and Hendersonville just felt like home to us.
EL: Yeah. Can you describe, kind of, where we are in Hendersonville?
KC: We are in what is, I guess, considered an up and coming neighborhood. More
the industrial part of town, 7th Avenue, used to be Main Street back in the day.
It came off the Train Depot, and led into town, and this area really heavily
being revitalized, and we love the feel of that, the potential, we love the
space here and the ability to have concrete floors and no neighbors above us or
00:09:00next to us that we had to really worry about. Parking, huge outdoor courtyard,
and just the promise of, and the energy that this area has to change and grow.
EL: Yeah. And you guys were the first brewery here right?
KC: In the county, in Henderson County.
EL: Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges that came from that?
KC: That... it was a good growing experience. Good lesson in patience. Let me
see, we had, sorry I have to refer to my notes cause it was-
EL: That's okay.
KC: A while ago.
EL: Yes.
KC: We had, at the time, 6 months of free rent from our landlord and we though
that would be enough time to get this place up and running, and we wouldn't have
any overhead, but we had over 6 months in delays, dealing with bureaucracy on, I
hate to say but the county level and the state level. And because we were the
00:10:00first ones, despite what was going on in Buncombe County right next door, no one
really knew what to do with us, they didn't know what to do with our equipment.
They didn't really know how to permit so, so we really had a lot of frustrating
delays, trying to get engineers involved. I think back then it was so new, no
one really wanted to pull the trigger and be on record as signing off on this
scary thing. But we really fought hard, we had a lot of support from local city,
the Henderson County Partner for Economic Development. So many people were
behind us and the city and the community was so excited to see open. So after a
lot of delays we actually got someone fired, because they weren't doing their
job. But they've been great partners ever since...you know, we hope that we did
help kind of modernize some of this, a lot of it was old laws, old permitting
00:11:00requirements, so that all changed.
EL: Yeah
KC: We actually had to be a private club our first year because of really
antiquated ABC laws and the county was dry up until, I think, four years ago.
Yeah. And again the city really wanted to work with us, we had help from Mike
Kericker, or Steve Kericker, Senator Apodaca. Chuck McGrady, councilman.
Everyone wanted to help us change this, so as soon as they could, they did. And
the community voted, thankfully, to change some of these laws.
EL: Yeah. And so, I mean, Hendersonville, as a city, but also even the brewing
company has boomed-
KC: Oh.
EL: Since then and changed dramatically. Can you talk a little bit about that?
KC: It's changed exponentially. I guess along with the rest of the country, you know.
EL: Yep.
KC: Although, being a much smaller area it feels like its growing faster to us.
you know we were, we've been here seven years now, you know, we knew it was
00:12:00inevitable, another brewery would open. Sanctuary opened then we had a few
others open and close since, and now were looking at the potential for, I
believe 6, to be opened, just in Hendersonville proper. So it's a little
mind-blowing, I think, considering we've thought 7 in a city the size of
Asheville was way too many. So, yeah. That's, we've learned a lot.
EL: Yeah. So here at Southern Appalachian what do you consider to be the primary
mission for the brewery here?
KC: Let's see, I'm going to refer to my notes again because we've had a lot of...
EL: Or theme.
KC: Yeah the theme. Our goal is really just basic. And it's going to sound
simple but we just want to make great beer. And be involved in our community.
That's really been our goal since day one. And to continue to do that, which
isn't easy with growth and with all the other distractions, you know, but we've
00:13:00added live music, we've had actually live music since day one, but we really
tried to improve our live music, we built and outdoor stage, we're slowly
building our outdoor courtyard and to be something a little bit nicer, I guess,
versus the industrial part we started with.
KC: Being family friendly, and again, just supporting our community through
fundraisers and to just keep doing that. You know, everyone opening, every one's
kind of grabbing onto this formula for what a brewery should be, and all we can
do is just keep doing it better.
EL: Yeah. And in terms of growing the brewery itself, how has the kind of
capacity, size, grown? Even the space.
KC: Space.
EL: You talked a little bit about that.
KC: Yeah well, our original brewery, I mean, I think it was a 5 barrel system,
no it was a 3 barrel, somewhere in there.
EL: Yeah.
00:14:00
KC: I can't even remember, I'm trying to block it out, completely different
equipment that we inherited, completely different system. So moving here we were
lucky to find a used 15 barrel brewhouse, the entire system is 15 barrel, our
fermentors, our brites, everything. So that was a huge step up for us, we now
have glycol, entire glycol system. Bug improvement from our old method of making
the beer. Let me see.
EL: So are you guys doing lagers and ales then?
KC: We are, yes. Currently we're only doing one lager, you know, they're taking
twice as long, that's why a lot of breweries aren't doing them.
EL: Yeah.
KC: The commitment to it, but we've had a lot of great feedback on our pilsner.
And even though it's harder to make, takes longer, we're going to continue to do
it. We only have 5 brite tanks right now, and 5 fermentors, so it's a little
harder for us to expand the lagering system at this point.
EL: Right.
KC: But we definitely have been trying to increase our production, were now with
two different distributors, all the way out to Wilmington. And a little bit in
00:15:00South Carolina, that we're trying to grow. So the guys are constantly trying to
figure out you know how much is the tasting room going to go through with this
event, or that event, and how much are our distributors going to be ordering,
and that's really changing a lot with the growth of the industry. You know it's
a little harder sometimes to figure out because now there's so many craft beers,
and so many great products, and staying, being able to sell all the beer you can
make, it's a lot harder now because there's so many taps, there's limited tap
space I should say. And we're still only draft.
EL: Right.
KC: But we're really building our barrel system, barrel age system, and our sour
program and those are two really big programs that we're trying to push.
EL: Right.
KC: Since we got all of our standard styles really dialed in, we decided to
focus on that first and now they're having fun playing with some of the more experimental-
EL: Yeah.
KC: Things.
EL: How many beers do you usually have on tap at a time?
00:16:00
KC: We started with three, and now we have, we make over 20 different styles.
EL: Oh wow.
KC: We only have 12 taps in our tasting room so it gets a little tricky to try
to really highlight all the beers we're making and so we've got to really try to
stick with seasonals. Even though everyone wants our Hefeweizen year round, you
can only get it in the summer. You can only get the Autumn Ale in the fall. You
know it's a lot of, people want to sign petitions to have them available, but
with the limited tap space, you known and it's also nice to offer seasonal. You
know, people gravitate toward that or small batch and experimental things.
EL: Right.
KC: So I think anywhere between 11 and 12 of our own beers on tap at any time.
EL: Wow.
KC: And we've got room for more. We just added a nitro tap also which has been fun.
EL: Yeah I noticed the, was it the Coconut Porter?
KC: Oh it's crazy. So good. I know it's, I know I'm biased, but it's really good.
EL: So do you guys have a beer that you consider to be a flagship, or do you
just kind of have a standard...
KC: Absolutely, the Copperhead Amber is what we are most well known for. I'd say
00:17:00the Copperhead, and the Black Bear. And those were two original beers to the
original brewery back in 2003. The recipes are very different now but they're
still our most popular beers.
EL: Yeah. And your husband did the recipe tweak?
KC: Yes.
EL: For the...
KC: Yes. We did a lot of research to help make that happen too but...
EL: Yeah
KC: Yeah they've changed but we're really happy with them, and our customers are
happy, and our draft accounts are happy with them. It's a solid American Amber,
and a solid Stout, and we're really proud of that.
EL: Yeah.
KC: To keep that consistency is really difficult, and especially with the craft
beer scene, where people are only doing 5 gallons at a time, we find a special
challenge in being able to do 15 barrels at a time and make it the same every
time and to continue doing that.
EL: Right. So thinking about, I guess, we've talked about the history of it,
thinking forward what plans, what are your plans for the future? Where do you
00:18:00see Southern Appalachian in three, four, five years?
KC: Or further out, I hope so, right? After seven years. Well a big thing for us
would be expanding our tasting room, you know, we really haven't made it as
wonderful as we've imagined. You know, time constraints, budget constraints, but
really expanding, especially the outdoor area, because our inside is so limited
in capacity. And it's a big draw for our regulars, to be able to sit outside
almost year round and enjoy that. Probably adding more bathrooms as we get
bigger. We host a lot of street events and festivals here, they're growing...
our biggest one is probably the vintage motorcycle show that we do every year
and that's drawing, let me check our numbers, that went from about 500 to almost
5000 people showing up here for that event.
EL: Wow.
KC: So these are events that we've seen and that we've babied, you know our
Oktoberfest, we do a vintage market now and things that we've really worked with
00:19:00the planners, and the organizers to keep growing and we really would like to see
those grow more and turn them more into street festivals which we've been doing.
I'd say also expanding our distribution and really getting up to our full
capacity and brewing, and getting more accounts. We also plan to do a bottle,
specialty bottles system for our barrel-aged, and our sours. Do some bottle
releases, things that we have not done yet. And being draft only and having just
the growlers, it's a little limiting to where we can get out. So you know-
EL: Right.
KC: Really expanding on that. And we listen a lot to what our customers want and
try to do everything and be everything for everyone, but stay true to our focus,
you know?
EL: Right.
KC: And stay true to our goal.
EL: Right, so you've kind of touched on this already, you've talked about
community and then some of the events you had, you guys have received some
awards from your local Chamber of Commerce.
00:20:00
KC: It's very humbling.
EL: Can you talk about some of the work you've done in terms of supporting local
community, non-profits and things like that, like hyperlocal?
KC: Oh absolutely, we try to stay as local as we can because there are so many
non-profits, well globally, but then you look at Western North Carolina and I
Henderson county and Hendersonville and we try to do as much as we can with all
of them. You know, we have a hard time saying no. We have product that we can
always donate. We're always happy to throw in gift certificates. We do a number
of fundraisers here and we absolutely love doing it. We, actually tomorrow are
setting up for a Council on Aging fundraiser that will benefit meals on wheels.
We do programs with United Way, the Community Foundation, the Humane Society. I
have a hard time saying no, and when it sounds like a good idea it's like hey
let's just try it, let see what happens. I feel like if we got good people
involved, great board, good feedback from our customers, it's just fun.
00:21:00
EL: Yeah.
KC: You know we've got the space for it. We may not have the time or necessarily
the deep pockets but we can definitely lend our location and help with that, and
get the word out.
EL: Yeah. So thinking broadly industry wide, you know, where do you see the
brewing industry in this are going in the next few years? You know... like you
said you guys are the senior brewery in this area.
KC: Oh don't say senior. That makes me feel old. Although that's better, someone
called us the grandparents of the local brewing scene and I was like-
EL: Aww.
KC: I know what you mean but let's rephrase that. Yeah.
EL: It's better than just flat out old.
KC: Oh yes, yes. I'll take that. And you know I have to say it is kind of a
compliment because we've had so many changes and we were productionally for so
long. A lot of people don't realize we've been doing this for 12 years.
KC: 2006 was such a fledgling industry, and its changed so much. I think, beyond
00:22:00what any of us, the original breweries, really conceived.
EL: Right.
KC: You know, I mean, I remember sitting at Highland for an Asheville Brewers
Christmas party and there were 13 or 14 of us. And I don't think any of us
really foresaw back then what was going to happen, and I don't think anyone
really could have. Maybe we should have knowing there was beer involved but now
we know. I think the bad, I should address right away is that there is a beer
bubble, it's going to burst. As great as it is and as wonderfully received the
breweries are, and everyone gets behind it, especially in a small town, if you
open a new business here you are guaranteed to get people coming in before you
are open. We had people knocking on our doors wanting memberships, and we're
still painting and I'm doing drywall, and I'm on a 14 foot ladder and they're so
excited. Which is amazing, and I think the support local movement, you're so
00:23:00much more aware of it in a small community, and it's amazing to have the support
of the community rallying around you. And you're going to get that right away.
The sustainability of it, it's really scary and it's daunting.
KC: I think summer great, you know the phrase the more the merrier? It does help
bring people to the area, you know, you're seeing it in Asheville, a lot of
people were comparing it to the wine scene in Napa Valley. Hey it works, and
it's tourism. Personally I know what February looks like in the mountains and
its really scary to me. You see, the bad part of the growth industry, is that
people think that it's a cash cow, and that they've got the money they've got
the financing and that they will just put all the money they can into a
beautiful space, and beer becomes the back burner for them. It's not a priority.
They're not starting with good beer. A second thought would be or an
00:24:00afterthought would be hiring a brewer. And I think that's going to really be a
detriment in the long run.
KC: You know it's a great time to drink beer, don't get me wrong, and it's
pushing all of us to make the best beer we can, because you have to be able to
compete. I remember Hilton with Asheville Ale Trail, way back when, I think it
was the twelfth brewery opening in Asheville, and we were talking about it and
it was another husband and wife, and it's like that's great, more families, more
women in the brewing industry, and he's like "yeah, I asked them what they were
going to focus on and they said making great beer," and he said "that's not
enough anymore," and that was like a light bulb moment for me. Yeah know, it's
really not enough anymore, you've got to be offering so much more, and be able
to, I hate to say compete but you have to compete with your neighbors. So I
think it's going to be really tough in the future.
EL: Yeah.
KC: I do.
00:25:00
EL: Yeah. Well to pick up one thing you just mentioned, you were talking about
more women in the beer industry.
KC: Yes.
EL: And that's definitely something else that has changed but not necessarily
changed a ton since you entered the field.
EL: There are a lot more women.
KC: Well, I would say it has changed 200 percent.
EL: Yeah.
KC: Since I got involved in 2006. I mean my experience might be different than
everyone else's.
EL: How many women would you have seen usually at like an Asheville...
KC: At like a brewers meeting?
EL: Yeah.
KC: One. I mean really it was, I can only think of Sheryl-
EL: Yeah.
KC: From Heinzelmannchen. And she and I, were for a while, the only ones. Even
at beer festivals. Very few women, even as customers coming in and festival
goers because I think traditionally didn't think they liked beer. People didn't
they were the beer audience, and it's been so refreshing to have more women in
the beer scene. I don't necessarily feel like I was discriminated against
00:26:00because I was one of the few, but it's just nice, it was nice to see that
growth. To see women becoming part of it. To see more women appreciating craft
beer and realizing it wasn't just this guy drink. You know? Breaking down those stereotypes.
EL: Yeah.
KC: I think, and just having that perceptive of having more women in the field,
and that voice. It made it more and it continues to make it more well-rounded. I
think the more you can get the more perspective it's going to help the industry
it's going to help open people's minds and introduce some new things they hadn't considered.
EL: Yeah. And it seems that Hendersonville in particular has a lot of women.
KC: Absolutely, yeah. Which is nice, as of right now I think all the breweries
that are open are all husband and wife or you know partners. Which I don't know
on average that's probably really high.
EL: It's pretty, 100 percent is a pretty high percentage.
KC: Yeah, yeah I would say so right?
EL: Yeah.
KC: That's a good point.
EL: Yeah, no. It is, here all of the breweries that are currently opened-
00:27:00
KC: Right. And even though we don't have any time, and we don't get to see each
other and hang out, we joke about doing the kind of couples therapy too. Getting
together and having a beer, to kind of decompress from running a business
together and being in this industry and you know being partners in it. So it's-
EL: Yeah.
KC: It keeps it interesting.
EL: Yeah. So if another women wandered through right now and was asking for your
advice, if she wanted to enter the craft brewing industry, what kind of advice
would you give her for jumping in?
KC: Oh wow, I'd say, "Don't open in Hendersonville." I feel like it might be a
little saturated. I was wrong about Asheville twelve years ago. But you know,
when Joe and Lisa at Sanctuary were going to open, we talked to them a long
time, we all, you know, happy to give any advice we could, because of all the
struggles we had opening, I honestly don't know if it's as hard for women to get
00:28:00involved right now as it may have been twelve years ago. You know, Leah Wong [Ashburn of Highland Brewing Company], I
think she a big change in the industry, you know really taking over, and being a
big role player for Highland and for the local beer scene. I think a lot of
those barriers are broken down already, and I don't know that women would
necessarily struggle, I might be wrong, again I've always been in male dominated
industries and I've tried not to let it be a distraction from my aim and I hope
women don't feel that way now, because I think if we're doing make, female, it's
just going to take away from the energy of where it needs to go.
EL: Yeah.
KC: So if we just can support and not really think about that, I don't know if
that's possible, you know, but in an ideal world and maybe I'm disillusioned, I
don't feel that it's really, that's its happening anymore, you know? And I don't
00:29:00feel like it happened 12 years ago.
EL: Yeah.
KC: Maybe I was blind to it, I don't know, but I feel like there's so much
support and women, you know, they're like here I come no matter what, what are
you going to do about it and again, more perspective, more energy, everything
that we can bring is going to be helpful for everybody.
EL: Yeah.
KC: I hope.
EL: Definitely. So you mentioned your flagship years here earlier.
KC: Yes.
EL: Do you have a favorite, personal favorite?
KC: Of our flagships or of anything?
EL: Of any of yours, can you pick a favorite?
KC: It's really hard. I have to say owning a brewery, you do not get to drink as
much beer as you would think. I drank a lot more beer before I owned a brewery.
Mostly because of the hours, the ABC laws. It's hard, you know, you're pouring
your beers all day, and you're talking about them, and you're getting feedback.
I have been known to do a flight when I get a night off just to refresh my
memory. I would say my favorite, which we haven't made in a while is part of our
00:30:00sour, and our barrel aging program, and it was out Belgian Artisanal Amber. We
put it in red wine barrels with raspberries and champagne yeast and it is
secondary fermentation, and it was probably, it's probably my favorite beer
we've ever made.
EL: Yeah.
KC: Absolutely. Yeah. I still think about it and our regulars that know about it
ask when it's coming back and maybe it's because of how infrequently we can make
it, you know, I think it was aging two years in the barrel, so yeah, I'd say
that's my favorite. My go to of our standard beers is probably the IPA.
EL: Yeah.
KC: Yeah. It's just nice and smooth.
EL: Do you have a go to standard from another North Carolina brewery?
KC: I have to say I read that question yesterday-
EL: It's the hardest question on the whole list.
KC: I think it is, because again we don't, I don't get out of here. And to be
honest, owning a brewery, it's really hard to go out and have a beer, because
it's work. I feel like I can't appreciate it as much as everybody else can. I
00:31:00get a lot of my beer knowledge of the local industry from our regulars. Cause
they're going to openings and they know about bottle releases and they know
about special beers. My go to is so old school, it's Green Man's ESB. I think
it's probably one of the first craft beers I had, I used to work right next door
to Dirt Jacks, to me though it was just always a perfect beer, really drinkable,
and he had it always dialed in. That probably, I don't really know a lot of the
current beers. Other breweries are making.
EL: Green Man's still solid.
KC: Right? Yeah.
EL: Yeah.
KC: Yeah. John's still doing a great job.
EL: Yeah. So when you're not here, what are some of the things you enjoy doing?
KC: I also found that one really hard to answer.
EL: I always phrase it as, "I know you're here a lot..."
KC: Yes.
EL: When you're not here...
KC: Yes, when were not here. The reason we moved here was really to be out in
nature more, to get away from... the priorities of modern life and really try to
00:32:00get back to something more primal, I guess. So we try to get out and hike, we
try to go out, we're trying to get out and kayak. Just get out into nature and
get away from technology and kind of your every day. I think it's really
important to do that. To be at home on my couch is probably one of my favorite
activities. And lately we have been trying to get out and support local
businesses. Even just come here on a night off and drink beer and see what it's
like as an experience as a costumer.
EL: Yeah.
KC: That's been really fun. And to actually enjoy some of the music that we
book, that we don't get to sit and really spectate at and appreciate, so-
EL: Yeah.
KC: Yeah, try to live like a normal person, I guess, is the answer.
EL: It's a good answer.
KC: Yeah, I hope so.
EL: Yeah, well that's kind of the full list of questions that I brought, is
there anything we didn't talk about that you would want to talk about?
00:33:00
KC: Let me see...
EL: To get the full picture of Southern Appalachian?
KC: I would say just from a historical standpoint, with all the breweries
opening, you know, I kind of look at what new breweries are doing and I think,
"wow, can you do that now?". Well we did it that way but that was 12 years ago.
And I think back to your question about women getting into the industry or new
breweries, a big thing that we took so much advantage of was the support of
small business. Supporting agencies like Score, and Mountain Bizworks, Self
Help, Henderson County Partner for Economic Development, city officials, this
was pre-crowdfunding for us and I think really benefited us, we had to write a
solid business plan to get any sort of lending. We also were expanding and
moving when the economy was tanking, and SBA loans were there but not a lot of
00:34:00people were expanding, so we wrote the business plan 3 or 4 times and it really
helped us, I think, get a solid idea of how to make it work. It scares me a
little that new breweries aren't taking advantage of these agencies that are
here to help them succeed and I love crowd funding but I think, I think having a
viable business plan is really important. It's about the beer but if you really
want to succeed, especially in today's climate, in such an over saturated
market, you got to make sure it's solid, all aspects.
EL: Yep.
KC: And I hope we're still doing that. Some days I feel like I don't know.
EL: Right. That makes great sense. Well anything else you want to add?
KC: I don't think so. Is there anything maybe I skipped ahead on, on your list?
EL: No, I think you did a great job, thank you very much.
00:35:00
KC: Thank you, this has been really cool to be a part of.
