THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9406130068
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY RANDALL CHASE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: 940613 LENGTH: RALEIGH
The microbrew movement, which started on the West Coast, has finally poured over into the South.
{REST} Microbrews are specialty beers that come in relatively small batches and offer flavors, colors and styles far different from those of the traditional six-packs.
North Carolina - at the vanguard of the Southern micro wave - already has two microbreweries and eight brewpubs making their own beers. Another brewpub is to open in Chapel Hill this fall, and one is rumored for Wilmington.
The state's brews range from the dark, yeasty Smoky Mountain Ale brewed in Waynesville to the golden and dark lagers flowing from taps at the Weeping Radish Brewery & Restaurant in coastal Manteo.
The strongest players are the Weeping Radish, Greenshields Brewery & Pub here in the state capital, and Dilworth Brewing Co. in Charlotte. All three are expanding from selling their beers only on the premises into bottling and wholesale distribution.
``It's just amazing to see how far this industry has come,'' said Uli Bennewitz, owner of the Weeping Radish. ``It reminds me of the savings and loan business in the 80s. Right now, it's boom time, and it's kind of scary.''
Bennewitz, who opened the Weeping Radish on July 4, 1986, said it took him six years to get into the black.
``The Old South dies hard,'' he said. ``On the West Coast, they just opened the doors and that was it.''
The renaissance in brewing comes after a long drought, during which the number of breweries in the United States dwindled from more than 3,000 at the turn of the century to only 42 in 1981.
``We've now got more than 400 breweries in the U.S.,'' said Daniel Bradford of Durham, publisher of All About Beer magazine and former director of the Great American Beer Festival.
Industry observers say the new interest in American brewing is part of the larger trend toward culinary adventurism.
``Because you're just plain folks doesn't mean you haven't got any taste buds or that you haven't got any discernment,'' said Michael Jackson, an internationally know beer expert and author of several books on the subject.
Bradford, whose infant daughter tasted beer before mother's milk, said Southerners generally are more inclined to lighter beers.
``Since the revolution in beer has been in the more flavorful ends, it's perfectly understandable to think that this would be one of the last frontiers,'' he said.
A microbrewery generally is described as one that sells no more than 15,000 barrels a year - a barrel being equivalent to 31 gallons. A brewpub is a brewery, usually combined with a restaurant, that sells its beers on the premises.
After years of selling his lagers, ales, stouts and porters by the glass, Gary Greenshields, who opened his British-style brewpub in 1989, has quadrupled his brewing volume and is branching out into bottling.
Bennewitz, who recently tripled his brewing capacity and expanded his bottling operation, began by buying a package brewing deal, complete with German beer master, from his brother in Germany.
Now, Bennewitz has four brewers working for him.
Jack Jones, a police supervisor from Newark, Ohio, stopped in at the Weeping Radish last week, relaxing with a pipe and a beer after a thousand-mile ride on his Harley-Davidson.
``Last year, I found this place for the first time,'' said Jones, 46. ``I made it a point that this was going to be one of the places I stopped this year.''
Jones, who doesn't mind comparisons to Joe Six-Pack, reaches for a Budweiser or Michelob when he's in a no-frills mood. But he's also developed a taste for what's known as craft-brewed beer.
``It's really starting to catch on up north,'' he said while cradling a glass of golden lager that goes for $1.75. ``This is the best I've tasted. . . . It's a shame that a man of my fine taste should be so poor.''
Not everyone is ready to turn the Bible Belt into the Beer Belt, however. South Carolina only recently passed a law allowing brewpubs, while Mississippi and Georgia still don't allow them. Montana is the only holdout outside the region.
Since North Carolina opened the tap, brewpubs and microbreweries have proliferated throughout the South. As of April, there were at least 42 brewpubs and 13 microbreweries in the region, according to the Institute for Brewing Studies in Boulder, Colo.
Meanwhile, sales of craft-brewed beers increased by 40 percent last year. Their total market share, however, remains under one percent, according to Dave Edgar, associate director of the Institute for Brewing Studies.
``It's still a proverbial drop in the bucket,'' he said. ``However, it's growing at a very impressive rate. One percent is still a lot of beer.''
by CNB