A-B Tech brewing program to get a brewhouse and wine-making system

ASHEVILLE – The Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is getting a $195,000 grant from Duke Energy to expand the program and its equipment.

The money will buy the program a 7-10-barrel brew house, a canning machine, a distillation system and a micro winery and “put money into a sensory analysis laboratory,” said Scott Adams, director of the program. The equipment should be on the A-B Tech Enka campus by fall, he said.

Two dozen students are now in the program, and another two dozen will begin in August, Adams said. Some students have traveled to the school from Oregon, Pennsylvania and Michigan, he said. Both men and women are enrolled in the program.

The Duke donation announcement was attended by an all-star lineup of political leaders including U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Denver, who represents most of Asheville; state Rep. Nathan Ramsey, R-Fairview; Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and members of the Buncombe County commissioners.

Duke Energy gave the gift to boost workforce training, said Jason Walls, district manager for the Asheville area. “We look at this as a growing industry that we want to support,” he said.

The Craft Beverage Institute began training students last year in the production and business of beer, wine, cider and distilled beverages, brewmaster Jeff Irvin said. With the arrival of the new brew house and canning line, A-B Tech would eventually like to open a tasting facility, similar to what is offered by Surry Community College’s wine program in Dobson. That would involve a change in state law, Irvin said.

For now, the beverages produced in the program are used for sensory analysis purposes and eventually discarded, Irviv said.

The program is a big plus for the region’s booming craft brewing industry, said Highland Brewing founder and president Oscar Wong, who was repeatedly mentioned at the announcement for starting Asheville’s first craft brewery.

The Craft Beverage Institute is “quite possibly” training Highland’s future employees, he said. “We will have openings as time goes on, and so will the other breweries,” he said. “I think there is a big demand” for training.