Dale Neal

ASH

CANDLER – Only 18 months after launching their popular downtown brewpub, Wicked Weed Brewing will invest $5 million in a new plant in Candler that could produce 50,000 barrels of craft beer annually.

The company will add another 82 jobs over the next three years, boosting its current staff of 145 workers to include not only brewmasters, but also serving staff, sales and marketing, distribution and administrative staff.

Wicked Weed plans to buy a county-owned 40,000-square-foot facility, originally built in 2006 in the Enka Commerce Park off Sand Hill Road. Part of the $5 million investment will go toward finishing the interior of the building shell. With the installation of a $3.2 million semi-automatic 30-barrel production system, the company will be able to bottle some of its existing recipes, now served on draft at the Wicked Weed brewpub on Biltmore Avenue, explained partner Luke Dickinson.

The downtown brewpub produced some 2,800 barrels in its first year and is on track to produce around 5,000 barrels in 2014.

The surprise announcement came Friday as the partners hosted a preview of a second downtown location opening on Coxe Avenue. The new barrel house and tasting room on Coxe, the Funkatorium, will open to the public in September. It will store up to 1,000 wooden casks of Wicked Weed’s barrel-aged sour beer, a fast-growing segment popular with craft brew enthusiasts.

“If you look at the number of breweries in Asheville, the craft brew industry fits the definition of a cluster,” said Ben Teague, executive director of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville and Buncombe County. “They are not limited just by customers in Asheville, but are reaching other markets.”

Sierra Nevada expects to produce 300,000 barrels of beer this year at its Mills River brewery, for sale around the East Coast and Europe. New Belgium Brewing is building a facility on the French Broad River that will produce 500,000 barrels annually.

Highland Brewing, Asheville’s first craft brewery, plans to produce 40,000 barrels this year.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau bills Asheville as having more craft breweries per capita than any city in the U.S. With ther addition of Sierra Nevada in production and , Asheville could expect an influx of even more thirsty tourists.

“There are other fabulous breweries in town. We’re thrilled to be a part of that. Asheville will be to craft beer what Napa Valley is to wine,” said Rick Guthy, a successful entrepreneur and Wicked Weed partner.

With 6.8 acres of property and access to the French Broad River, the new Candler facility could see a tasting room as well as a venue for musical events in the future, said Abby Dickinson, Wicked Weed’s marketing director.

Wicked Weed should be in production by fall 2015, regularly brewing and bottling its signature beers, Freak of Nature IPA and Hopburglar, along with a rotation of seasonal brewpub favorites. The company will self-distribute its bottles and kegs to Charlotte, Raleigh and other markets in North Carolina. Regulations will require the company to find a distributor for its products outside the state.

“You could expect to see Wicked Weed in other states by the following year,” Luke Dickinson said.

The brewpub will remain as an innovation center, regularly creating new recipes. Wicked Weed keeps 29 beers on tap at its Biltmore Avenue loation, and has created some 155 recipes in the past year and half. The brewery won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013.