BYCU
I never knew this: "With more breweries per capita than any U.S. city, Asheville, N.C., has become a sort of Napa Valley of beer."
Of course, the bigger boys now want some of the action, too: "Outsiders have noticed that Asheville's locally owned, small-batch-beer scene is hot. And they want to join the party. The city is now getting a major infusion of new suds and cash as large out-of-state breweries come to town. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., based in Northern California and one of the largest breweries in the country, has opened a production facility just outside the city. New Belgium, of Fort Collins, Colo., is planning to open one here in late 2015. They follow Oskar Blues, a company from Lyons, Colo., that built a second location in the nearby town of Brevard in 2012."
Link.
It's a good thing, of course. Competition is always, without exception, a good thing, as long as none of the players tries to put the government thumb on the scales to get an unfair advantage. Which, of course, is something businesses often try to do, especially big businesses. The only way to stop it is to take away the government's thumbs, but I think we're far away from that ever happening.
