Tony Kiss, and Mike Cronin

The Citizen-Times



ASHEVILLE – For a town that never loses when it comes to beer, this one had to sting.

Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery announced Tuesday it would build an East Coast production facility in Roanoke, picking the Virginia city despite long-running efforts in Buncombe County to land an operation near Asheville.

Deschutes, headquartered in Bend, visited more than 50 sites in the Southeast but the decision ultimately came down to Roanoke feeling like a potential upstart in the beer-making industry.

“We really liked how Roanoke mirrored Bend in many ways when Gary (Fish) founded Deschutes” in 1988, said Karl Ockert, Deschutes director of brewery operations.

Bend was rough around the edges, in need of vibrancy and had suffered economically with the decline of the Oregon lumber industry.

“There was also a feeling that we wanted to move into a location where we could make a difference...one that wasn't as developed as a brewing center,” Ockert said.

With 24 breweries open in Buncombe County and nearly 50 in the mountains, craft beer already has been established as an economic force and a popular draw for locals and tourists.

Deschutes is Oregon’s largest brewery, selling 84,800 barrels of beer in that state last year.

The Roanoke facility will employ up to 108 workers and spend $85 million on the project, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said.

Company President Michael Lalonde heaped praise on Asheville’s economic-development officials and the craft brewers that welcomed the Deschutes team during their visits.

“We were really blessed with their hospitality and their knowledge of the area,” Lalonde said. “We appreciated all the work they put into (recruiting us).”

Incentives offered by the governments of the two regions played a secondary role, he said.

Deschutes is mostly a western brewery, and its beers are not sold in many eastern U.S. cities.

Roanoke lost out on the Sierra Nevada expansion near Mills River. Western North Carolina has become the nation’s East Coast craft beer capital with Sierra, New Belgium in West Asheville and Oskar Blues in Brevard.

The Tuesday announcement did not completely surprise Ben Teague, executive director of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, who had worked to recruit the brewery. The company told him in December it planned to focus on Roanoke as a location, Teague said.

“That said, the process is long and winding and something could have happened that would have turned it back to us,” he said. “They were very gentlemanly.”

Deschutes made seven visits here to scout locations going back to 2014 and were once looking at the Roberts Farm property, which became Roberts Lake Apartments, Teague said.

Buncombe County Commissioners Chairman David Gantt said he was disappointed at losing the brewery. The county spent $6.8 million to purchase 137 acres in Bent Creek from Henderson County for the project.

Deschutes representatives visited the location, and “they loved the property,” he said. The county planned to provide an unspecified economic incentive to Deschutes involving the land.

“It never got down to how it would be transferred, but we would have made it work,” he said.

He said he had no regrets about buying the land.

“It would have been a great fit for Asheville and a great use of the property,” he said. “Had we not bought the property, we would have been eliminated at that point.”

Gantt said he believes the county will be able to sell the land without losing money.

Asheville remains a strong contender for more brewery growth, he said.

“It is the premiere spot for breweries to start, grow, expand and thrive,” he said. “We wish Deschutes well.”

The Asheville Brewers Alliance, a nonprofit group representing the local brewing industry, said it was excited for Roanoke and Virginia.

“It's been our experience that when larger breweries come in, they help provide resources and educational opportunities that would be out of reach for many of the start-up breweries in the same areas,” the Alliance said in statement.

The effort to bring the brewery to Roanoke was particularly intense, and a Facebook page, Deschutes 2 Roanoke, helped rally that community behind the project. The public effort in Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina was much more low-key.

“We appreciate that they will make way more of an impact in Roanoke than they would have here," said Mike Rangel, past president of the Asheville Brewers Alliance. "Losing a big brewery doesn't diminish us as a beer city."

Deschutes choosing Roanoke is "a loss from the standpoint that we would have had another world-class brewery to learn from and to share ideas with."

Employment at some of the WNC breweries

Sierra Nevada Mills River: More than 300 employees, includes those working at the brewery restaurant.

New Belgium West Asheville: 80 now on staff, 140 at full built out. Brewery to open this spring.

Oskar Blues Brevard: 55 employees.

Highland Brewing: 50 employees.

Asheville Brewing: 155 employees includes those working in the restaurants.

Green Man: 25 employees.

Hi-Wire: 21 employees.

Deschutes Brewery battle down to Roanoke and Asheville?

Beer Guy: Cheers to Roanoke beer