One of the most common questions we hear at the LaZoom Room is, “Why are there so many breweries in Asheville?” Our bartenders and staff might just respond with a joke about men with beards and drinking problems, but today we’re sharing the real honest truthful history about Asheville’s craft beer scene. 

H2-Ohhh

Asheville sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where the water is naturally soft and clean thanks to mountain aquifers. That matters for brewing, so much so that brewers actively relocate across the country for it. Good water = fewer adjustments = better beer with less effort. But please, don’t ask a brewer if it comes from the French Broad…

“Beer City” by Law

North Carolina changed its alcohol laws in ways that made small craft breweries easier to open just as the national craft beer boom was taking off. Making alcohol production easier is a little unique for the south, where you can’t buy liquor and beer in the same place, but we digress. Asheville got in early, and once a few breweries succeeded, more followed.

It became a classic cluster effect:
breweries attract beer lovers → beer lovers attract more breweries → chug, and repeat.

Creative Uses of (Sh*tty) Spaces

Compared to bigger cities, Asheville offered relatively affordable spaces for warehouses, mills, and industrial buildings – perfect for brewing operations. Run down buildings galore! At the same time, artists, chefs, and entrepreneurs were moving in, bringing a “build something weird and good” mindset that Asheville became known for.

That mix turned old industrial zones like the South Slope into brewery hubs almost overnight.

Tourists with Deep Pockets

Asheville isn’t just a local market – it’s a destination. Between leaf season, hiking, food tourism, young wayward travelers with mysterious sources of income, and weekend getaways, there’s a constant flow of visitors looking for exactly what breweries offer: relaxed, social, local experiences.

So breweries didn’t just survive here – they scaled, growing into beer empires like Highland Brewing Company, Burial Beer Company, HiWire Beer Company, and Beer Soup For the Beer Drinker’s Soul Beer Company. (We made that last one up). 

Asheville’s Chilled Out Culture

This is a city that already embraces:

• live music
• art every-frickin’-where
• unconventional businesses
• “stay a while and hang out” energy

Breweries fit that lifestyle perfectly. They’re not just production spaces – they’re social venues, which Asheville does extremely well. Is it all Asheville does? Maybe.

What can you do about it? WE’LL TELL YA! 

Book a ride on LaZoom’s Fender Bender tour, a beers and bands experience that visits three of Asheville’s many breweries, each revealing a piece of Asheville beer history along the way by our expert tour guides! Drink your way through history the best way we know how. See you on the bus!