Tony Kiss

tkiss@gannett.com

Asheville's fast-growing Wicked Weed brewing company is adding a fourth location to its chain - a $1.5 million production brewery for sour beers in Arden, near Sierra Nevada Brewing and the Asheville Regional Airport.

The brewery will handle an increasing demand for sour beers, which take a year or more to produce, brewer and co-owner Walt Dickinson said. Sours have been made at the downtown Funkatorium brewery but "we have just run out of room," he said. The new brewery will occupy an existing 57,000-square-foot building in Arden, he said.

"We won't have to do a lot of construction, maybe some renovation" to the building, he said. A 30-barrel brewing system will be installed and Wicked Weed will likely move in this summer, he said. Some beers may be released this year, but "most of the the barrel-aged beers take a year to produce, so it will be a while" before they arrive for sale, he said.

The company, which employs about 200 workers, will likely shift around the existing workforce to staff the new brewery, he said.

Sour beers have become increasingly popular with a segment of craft drinkers, but are often brewed away from standard ales and lagers to avoid contamination. Both Green Man and Hi-Wire along with Wicked Weed have made sours important parts of their brewing lineup.

There are no plans for a tasting room at either the new brewery or Wicked Weed's expansion brewery in Enka but some special events may be held there. The company will continue to operate all of its other breweries including the Funkatorium on the South Slope, which will be used for experimental brews and the original Wicked Weed restaurant and brewery on Biltmore Avenue.

The company will host an online pre-sale for its Red Angel raspberry sour beer at noon Saturday, with full and half cases of the beer available for order. The beer was made with 4,000 pounds of raspberries.





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