Free live music and food trucks will complete the scene. They may also stay for a classic draft pour and hang out in the meadow, indoor tasting room or rooftop beer garden. The first access to Gaelic Ale cans is at the brewery release on Friday, September 16, 4-9pm. Over the coming months, look for Highland cans in all their distribution areas: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Washington, DC. With their flagship now in cans, Highland plans to expand can distribution. Earlier this year Highland Pilsner debuted in cans, followed mid-summer by Mandarina IPA. Highland Brewing Company at the S&W Market represents an exciting return to where our story started, with new eyes, new beers, and a unique opportunity to be part of the next chapter of our hometown.This rounds out their already strong line of canned options. We are excited to celebrate the next 29 years of brewing and innovation with a return to downtown through the opening of a new taproom in the S&W Market. Through it all, Highland remains committed to quality and sustainability, boasting the sixth largest solar array in an American craft brewery and a host of other sustainable initiatives and community commitments that honor our home in the mountains. In addition, the Event Center, Barrel Room, and Rooftop Bar are available for private events. More award-winning beers like AVL IPA and Highland Pilsner have since been added to our beer portfolio.įrom our hilltop campus in East Asheville, we have space for thousands of visitors to enjoy limited-release beers, live music, and outdoor activities like walking trails and volleyball courts. Gaelic Ale, an American Amber Ale, remains our flagship and best-selling brand 28 years strong. Today, Highland is led by Oscar’s daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn, and the brewery has grown into a regional leader with distribution across four states in the Southeast including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Since then, the brewery has continued to grow and expand into the 180,000-sq-ft building, adding the Taproom, Meadow, packaging hall, Event Center, and Rooftop Bar. Our production facility houses a 50-bbl brewhouse where we have the capacity to brew more than 40,000 barrels annually. When the movie studio folded, Highland was able to purchase the entire 40-acre property. In 2006, Highland moved from the downtown basement to the former home of Blue Ridge Motion Picture Studios in East Asheville. We brewed in that basement for 13 years as beers like Gaelic Ale, Black Mocha Stout, and Oatmeal Porter grew into some of the region’s favorite brews. Built almost entirely of retrofitted dairy equipment, our original brewery produced 6,500 barrels of beer per year in a 12,000-square-foot basement. Our brewing operations began downtown in a rented basement space under Barley’s Taproom. We were the first legal brewery in Asheville since prohibition. Highland was founded in 1994 by retired engineer, Oscar Wong. With a portfolio of beers that honor tradition and blaze new trails, we are proud to be Asheville’s pioneer in craft and a leader in southern beer. Highland Brewing Company is the largest independent, family-owned brewery native to the Southeast.

Gaelic ale