Tony Kiss

ASH

MILLS RIVER - Sierra Nevada Brewing will hire 100 or more employees for its brewery restaurant in Mills River, a company spokesman said Monday. The restaurant will be open and serving "beer friendly American cuisine" by January, if construction isn't delayed by weather.

A music hall will be opened upstairs from the restaurant and Sierra Nevada is also building an outdoor amphitheater at the brewery, located in Henderson County next to the Asheville Regional Airport.

The brewery has been turning out bottled beer for sale in the eastern United States and the company plans to begin brewery tours with tastings by mid-October. For now, non-tasting "hard hat" tours are being offered by reservation at www.sierranevada.com.

The restaurant will focus on "local, seasonal and sustainable cuisine made and paired with Sierra Nevada beers," company spokesman Bill Manley said. The menu could include wood-fired pizza made with spent brewer's grain and it will also offer vegetarian items. The family-friendly restaurant will include a small pilot brewing system as its centerpiece.

The music venue concept is still coming together, Manley said. "We'd like to host contemporary artists, rock, alternative, country and blues," he said. The amphitheater will offer music "at earlier times to accommodate family all-ages attendance," Manley said. "There is no shortage of great musicians from the area and also traveling through," he said.

On the production side, Sierra has also purchased a canning line which should be in operation early next year, he said.

Sierra Nevada is one of three national craft breweries to choose Western North Carolina for east coast expansions. Oskar Blues is in Brevard, and New Belgium is building in West Asheville along the French Broad River, with plans to open.