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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Savor. I'm an Eeries and I'm

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Speaker 1: Lauren Vocalbaum, and today we have another bonus episode for you,

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Speaker 1: our interview with Leo long Ashburne, the president, CEO, and

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Speaker 1: family owner of Highland Brewing. Yes, your ears do not

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Speaker 1: deceive you. This is a Saturday release release, although you

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Speaker 1: could be listening to it any day, any day of

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Speaker 1: the week. As the convenience of podcasts, that's a shameless

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Speaker 1: podcast plug or maybe shameful podcast plug. I don't know anyway,

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Speaker 1: case you needed one, Just in case you needed one. Uh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is another interview that we did while we were

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Speaker 1: in Nashville that was great, um, and we thought that

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Speaker 1: we would release it and its entirety maybe lightly edited,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, generally and its entirety UM, so you could

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Speaker 1: enjoy the conversation we had as much as we did. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was a really lovely conversation. We arrived at this

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Speaker 1: giant complex that is Highland Brewing. Um. This this old

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Speaker 1: like factory building and we're led by the lovely marketing

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Speaker 1: human Molly through this bizarre labyrinth back through like an

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Speaker 1: event space that was getting ready to put on a

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Speaker 1: wedding into this little media room that was very like

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Speaker 1: dim and calming and quiet. It was, And I'm really

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Speaker 1: glad after the interview was over, Leah let us out

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Speaker 1: because we would have been lost in there forever. We'd

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Speaker 1: still be wandering around roaming the halls. We'd become a legend.

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Speaker 1: Like supposedly there's podcasters occasionally you can hear them shouting

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Speaker 1: beer please. They did have lovely beer. We get to

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Speaker 1: sample some afterwards. Yes, they were releasing the the Negroni

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Speaker 1: them to beer that day. Yeah. Oh it tastes like

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Speaker 1: the Negroni. I don't know how widely it's distributed, if

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Speaker 1: you can find it in your area. If you can,

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Speaker 1: I definitely recommend tasting it if negronies are a thing

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Speaker 1: that you're into, because it's just like like lightly bitter

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Speaker 1: and kind of fruity and delicious. Not a plug, just

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Speaker 1: a fact, straight up fact, just facts. Yeah. We also

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Speaker 1: we also got to talk to her father, Oscar for

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Speaker 1: half a second. He was there like having some whiskey

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Speaker 1: with some friends, and we kind of the interview wandered

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Speaker 1: out and he was like hey he and he was like,

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Speaker 1: oh hey, daughter, what's up? And she introduced us. You

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Speaker 1: could really feel the love that they have for their

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Speaker 1: jobs and their business. Yeah, it was really funny, I thought.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was inspiring, and yes, inspiring is a

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Speaker 1: great word. But also it was funny because her dad

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Speaker 1: kind of just wandered out and was like, what are

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Speaker 1: you doing? Who are these people? What is that? Is

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Speaker 1: that a microphone? But it was funny. Yeah, So we

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Speaker 1: hope you enjoy this our bonus episode, our interview with

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Speaker 1: Leo long Ashbourne. Your your father founded Highland Brewing, right, Yes?

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Speaker 1: What was it like growing I mean, I suppose you

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Speaker 1: didn't grow up necessarily in the business, but came of

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Speaker 1: age certainly. Um what was that like? Um? I So

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Speaker 1: I was a cheerleader for the brewery for a really

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Speaker 1: long time because I was living in Charlotte and my

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Speaker 1: family was in Asheville, so they kind of left the nest.

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Speaker 1: We were all in Charlotte at one point and my dad, mom,

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Speaker 1: and sister came up here. Dad started the brewery and

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Speaker 1: so I was kind of watching it and being a

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Speaker 1: big fan. He started selling beer in Charlotte, which is

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Speaker 1: really exciting to me, and that's when I asked for

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Speaker 1: a job, and that is when he turned me down

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Speaker 1: for a job. So UM. So I found my own

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Speaker 1: way as he told me to do, and that that

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Speaker 1: worked out great. I mean, it was very wise for

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Speaker 1: him not to hire me when I was twenty four

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Speaker 1: and I knew nothing and he didn't need me so

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Speaker 1: but it was it was fun to kind of get

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Speaker 1: to know the staff a little bit through I don't

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Speaker 1: know if the annual staff getaway when we're for a

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Speaker 1: whole weekend. We go to this funky fishing lodge and

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Speaker 1: some people camp and we cooked together and there's a

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Speaker 1: fire the whole time, and we bring the beer truck

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Speaker 1: and there's a river and then we have a great time.

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Speaker 1: So I got to go to that um and it

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Speaker 1: was it was wonderful to learn and about what the

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Speaker 1: BRU was doing, um, not only in beer but in

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Speaker 1: community over a period of time before Dad offered me

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Speaker 1: a job and then I turned him down. So that

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Speaker 1: was pretty cool. So right, the plot thickens. So it

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Speaker 1: was another eight years, sixteen years in total between the

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Speaker 1: time I asked for a job he offered me one

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Speaker 1: that I finally accepted in twenty eleven. Where did you

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Speaker 1: start out in the company. I started out in sales,

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Speaker 1: so living in Charlotte, I worked in sales in Charlotte.

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Speaker 1: So I was working central and eastern North Carolina for

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Speaker 1: about a year and a half and started coming up

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Speaker 1: here to some marketing for Highland. And then when we're

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Speaker 1: into administrative leadership, obviously Asheville has changed a bit in

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Speaker 1: the past couple of decades. Um, how has uh Asheville?

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Speaker 1: And also this business changed since you started? Oh my gosh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: even from even from when I became president, I feel

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Speaker 1: like the industry turned on its head at that point. Um.

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Speaker 1: But in my whole tenure from while we were kind

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Speaker 1: of making largely this the same five beers for most

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Speaker 1: of our existence, um, and and we made them very

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Speaker 1: very well. Um, but that was that became sort of

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Speaker 1: a like is that all you know? Is that all

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Speaker 1: you do? Question even for ourselves internally, and so we

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Speaker 1: started making new beers and now, um how our portfolio

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Speaker 1: is kind of the newer inventive style. And then half

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Speaker 1: of it is like these classic favorites that have been

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Speaker 1: around for twenty years one of them and um, our

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Speaker 1: whole like we asked ourselves who we were and rebranded

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Speaker 1: in February of this year, just a few months ago.

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Speaker 1: So that was you know, The biggest thing we could

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Speaker 1: have done is kind of take off the entire face

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Speaker 1: of the brewery and and give it a new one

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Speaker 1: and then explain to people why we did this thing

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Speaker 1: after twenty three years or twenty four of of kind

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Speaker 1: of having the same look. Yeah, because you guys were

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Speaker 1: the first craft brewery in Asheville, right, And thank you

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Speaker 1: for saying that, because there's a lot, I mean a

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Speaker 1: lot of folks will kindly say you were one of

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Speaker 1: the first, right, And I'm like, no, we were the first,

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Speaker 1: the very first ones in the basement downtown when there

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Speaker 1: was almost nothing going on. I mean a handful of restaurants,

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Speaker 1: a great shoe store that's still there. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: hats off to tops and um. And and we were

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Speaker 1: in this basement that had an Ali come into it

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Speaker 1: from the back, and a park that all kinds of

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Speaker 1: bad things happened at that Dad tried to clean up

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Speaker 1: and the crew worked on and um. But it was

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Speaker 1: a very very different time when there was a lot

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Speaker 1: of potential but it hadn't been realized. It was like

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Speaker 1: just just uncovering the potential of the city. I think,

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Speaker 1: going going back to the new stuff that you guys

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Speaker 1: are working on around here? How do you, um, how

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Speaker 1: do you conceive of new beers? Like, like like, what's the

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Speaker 1: how how do you beer? How do you I've never

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Speaker 1: been beer. I've never been asked that. I love that. Um.

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Speaker 1: So one of my favorite things about the way that

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Speaker 1: Highland works that's unusual is that we've got multiple brains

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Speaker 1: in the creative space of creating of new beers. So

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Speaker 1: and I will take multiple brains in a creative process

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Speaker 1: over one. It just like feels natural. Everyreak and of

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Speaker 1: nods when I say that, like, of course that's a

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Speaker 1: good idea to creative sector. So, um, it's it's wonderful

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Speaker 1: to have these three folks kind of working together on um,

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Speaker 1: what's relevant, what we can do beautifully, where are we

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Speaker 1: going to source cool ingredients? Um? And what what we

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Speaker 1: think our fans are going to enjoy? And what are

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Speaker 1: we going to enjoy as a staff. So the internal

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Speaker 1: excitement builds and then we get to see the outside

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Speaker 1: reaction to it. It's cool. Um. The new thing that

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Speaker 1: just got released today and some of the other stuff

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Speaker 1: that you're working on has been cocktail inspired. How did

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Speaker 1: you guys decide to do cocktail inspired beers? This you

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Speaker 1: know this came from this sort of creative brain trust

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Speaker 1: and UM, you know, honestly, I'm not part I don't brew,

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Speaker 1: so I don't get at the root of these discussions

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Speaker 1: like that's really in the hands of the people that

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Speaker 1: can do it best. And then I just need to

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Speaker 1: keep doors a been right, give folks opportunity and allow

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Speaker 1: things to happen the best way that they can, and

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Speaker 1: they do from these folks. So this is I think

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Speaker 1: our second cocktail inspired beer and I foresee more coming.

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Speaker 1: What is the community, like you you mentioned earlier, UM,

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Speaker 1: the strong community being a huge part of what this is,

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Speaker 1: what you guys are, what Ashville is, Um, What's what's

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Speaker 1: it like here? What's it like being part of it?

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Speaker 1: Being a you know, just a resident, not just the

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Speaker 1: beer industry, but a resident of Asheville is very different. Um.

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Speaker 1: I was in Charlotte for twenty seven years, loved it,

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Speaker 1: and when it came to Asheville, it was just, you know,

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Speaker 1: everything is so much about timing. Timing is critical with

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Speaker 1: my entry to the brewery, was that right for the company,

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Speaker 1: for my family, for me and Dad specifically, and then

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Speaker 1: and that that same thing happened with my move from

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Speaker 1: Charlotte to Asheville, and it just Ashville kind of makes

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Speaker 1: you look at what's important in life. There's just a

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Speaker 1: lot of people that choose to live here because they

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Speaker 1: like the vibe, and the vibe is about quality of life.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of folks here that value being outside.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're attracted to the mountains and that natural beauty,

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Speaker 1: the natural resources that come from that, and that kind

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Speaker 1: of flows into being so outside. So you're moving around outside,

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Speaker 1: you're taking part in things together, you're protecting those cool

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Speaker 1: things together, and then it flows into beverage and food

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Speaker 1: and so I feel like a healthier and better person

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Speaker 1: living in this city, which is a pretty strong statement

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Speaker 1: to make about what a city can do for an individual.

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Speaker 1: And I never knew that that could be a thing

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Speaker 1: before I got here. Wow. Do you guys try to

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Speaker 1: try to pull in elements of that into your your

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Speaker 1: your products, um of you know, other products from the

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Speaker 1: community other than that, that feeling of appreciating good things

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Speaker 1: like finely crafted, handmade um, personal involvement, engagement and community. Yes, yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: yes so um there's so many examples. I mean, from

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Speaker 1: the brand refresh Um having mountains in the back of

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Speaker 1: all of our year round beers, because that was that's

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Speaker 1: the biggest part of our statement. We're so proud to

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Speaker 1: be here and we want Ashville to be proud of us, So,

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Speaker 1: you know, behaving in certain ways that contribute to that.

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Speaker 1: You were saying. The flavor of Asheville UM many flavors,

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Speaker 1: So there's that kind of on the on the bigger

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Speaker 1: scale of the brand, and then individual experiences of say um.

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Speaker 1: The Asheville Beach Armer is a local company. We use

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Speaker 1: their honey in a beer that is on tap right now,

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Speaker 1: and that was just a great experience. They are so

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Speaker 1: artistic about what they do, and we have worked with

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Speaker 1: them and with so many other local craft food, beverage

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Speaker 1: UM sometimes outside of that too, just all kinds of partnerships,

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Speaker 1: so we might pair a food in a beverage. A

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Speaker 1: local farmer was here just this week and dropping off

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Speaker 1: two kinds of basil um. One was a lemon basil.

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Speaker 1: The other was like it had a country name, like

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Speaker 1: it was Italian or something. It wasn't that something like

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Speaker 1: that had like complex aromas I would never guess could

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Speaker 1: come from basil and this earthiness to it. And so

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Speaker 1: those were going into a beer so locally sourced and farmed.

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Speaker 1: So there's so many things that that we love doing.

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Speaker 1: And um that again, like that energy is created here

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Speaker 1: and then radiates out when people come and they're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: what a cool thing to do together. We might put

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Speaker 1: donuts with beer. Two and that's always a winner. Yes,

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Speaker 1: Annie has a strong donut proclivity. I would say, do

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Speaker 1: you have a favorite beer? Are you a beer drinker? Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'm definitely a beer drinker. Yes, I drink every day.

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Speaker 1: I do not drink a lot of quantity, so I

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Speaker 1: choose carefully. And um, quality is extremely important. So um,

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Speaker 1: but it depends on mood, season, occasion, all of those things.

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Speaker 1: Has that changed? Have your tastes and beer changed, They've expanded.

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Speaker 1: I mean when I was in college, I drank whatever

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Speaker 1: I could get for free, right, Like that's you know,

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Speaker 1: normal normal upbringing beer beer upbringing, if we want to

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Speaker 1: put it that way. And um, and I remember, you know,

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Speaker 1: trying a killions in college and be like, oh it's

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Speaker 1: so heavy, I can't you know? So right, it is

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Speaker 1: comical now and um, Gaelic is my go to and

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Speaker 1: I learned to appreciate I p a s. I love sours.

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Speaker 1: I love Ceson's and so and I love that most

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Speaker 1: in the right time and place, like whatever that time

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Speaker 1: and place calls for. We have more with their interview

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Speaker 1: with leave for you, but first we have a quick

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Speaker 1: break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.

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Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor. Now back to the interview. Why did

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Speaker 1: your family move here to to to Asheville and start

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Speaker 1: the business. To begin with, why why did they move

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Speaker 1: out to Charlotte? UM, A couple of reasons. My parents

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Speaker 1: fell in love with Asheville just by coming to visit,

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Speaker 1: which happens a lot um and UM, and I have

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Speaker 1: a sister. Not everybody knows this, but I have a

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Speaker 1: younger sister who's developmentally disabled, and UM, finding a good

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Speaker 1: spot for her was part of the reason for coming here.

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Speaker 1: They there were opportunities here that were weren't as obvious

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Speaker 1: in Charlotte. So they can involved in, you know, kind

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Speaker 1: of seeing that through and my sisters thriving now, which

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Speaker 1: is awesome. She lives right across the street from the

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Speaker 1: brewery with some amazing people. UM, so that's really wonderful.

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Speaker 1: And then the other half was to start the brewery.

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Speaker 1: Dad met an award winning brewer and UM. Dad was

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Speaker 1: more of the you know, the engineering side, which it

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Speaker 1: translates very well to the cleanliness and exact science of brewing. UM.

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Speaker 1: And he also had some capital from his engineering company

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Speaker 1: that he had sold and business sense. He's an entrepreneur,

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Speaker 1: so UM he partnered up and said to to this brewer, UM,

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Speaker 1: this is a great idea. We're both living in Charlotte,

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Speaker 1: but I don't want to do this here. If you

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Speaker 1: want to do it in Asheville, let's do it. I

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Speaker 1: think the dad, he wouldn't admit this, but I think

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Speaker 1: he saw that kind of like burgeoning spirit of the

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Speaker 1: beverage and food. There's always been a craft community here,

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Speaker 1: like that's where Ashville's roots are. UM, and the artistic

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Speaker 1: community is just amazing here. And I think that he

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Speaker 1: saw some of the like quality of life things that

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Speaker 1: bubble around that so easily in the great beer communities

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Speaker 1: on the west coast post that hadn't quite made it

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Speaker 1: to the southeast. And um, and it's it's really true.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've traveled a bit out west too because

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Speaker 1: some great beer communities, and it feels similar to Ashville

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Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. It's it's amazing. How I

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Speaker 1: mean beer is kind of revitalized Asheville. Yeah, it has.

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Speaker 1: There's not a whole lot of industry here, so it's

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Speaker 1: beer is something, it's celebratory, it gathers people. Um, it's

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Speaker 1: a natural community energy creator kind of. And so in

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Speaker 1: small towns across the country, now you can gather around

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Speaker 1: a brewery like people gather around a local sports team.

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Speaker 1: Can I ask, how does it feel being kind of

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Speaker 1: the old guard or the big dog with all of

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Speaker 1: these new berries popping up? So we've got amazing energy

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Speaker 1: from our staff. So although I am not twenty five

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Speaker 1: and my dad is seventy seven, and he loves saying

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Speaker 1: like I'm one of the old farts, you know, you

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Speaker 1: got new kids figure out. Um, we are inspired to

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Speaker 1: to keep doing things in new ways. Like that's why

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Speaker 1: the portfolio is half fresh beers and we've done about

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Speaker 1: a hundred pilot beers in the course of a year

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Speaker 1: and really exciting things on the in the um that

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Speaker 1: come out from that system that are on the top

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Speaker 1: wall every day. UM. So we're creating, innovating, you know,

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Speaker 1: staying fresh and uh, and that's critical, like not only

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Speaker 1: because that's good marketing and that's what you have to

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Speaker 1: do these days. But it keeps us so engaged in

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Speaker 1: what we're doing and what we have yet to do.

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Speaker 1: There's beer programs cooking away right now. Um, you're seeing

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Speaker 1: like just the tip of one today with the within

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Speaker 1: a growny beer that's being put out taft fresh for

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Speaker 1: the first time today. So we have to go try

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Speaker 1: that afterwards. Um. And so there's more of that coming

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Speaker 1: in different styles and UM those fresh ingredients that came

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Speaker 1: in the basil we had peaches yesterday here or it

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Speaker 1: just is endless and so creating excitement again here and

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Speaker 1: that's where it's got to start. Can I ask you

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Speaker 1: about what it's like to be a woman in brewing,

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Speaker 1: because I you know, even though historically women were doing

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Speaker 1: the brewing, Um, you know, for a long time was

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Speaker 1: a man's world. What's how's that life? UM? I think

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Speaker 1: it's awesome. UM. There are pretty cool people that are

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Speaker 1: attracted to the industry. Right. So I'm among a really

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Speaker 1: great community and um, and I have been given incredible opportunity.

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Speaker 1: I cannot ever state that enough. Dad founded this nepotism.

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Speaker 1: I'm the second generation like it was, and I I

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Speaker 1: can't you know, Dad would not have done this if

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Speaker 1: he didn't have confidence in me. I know that. Um.

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Speaker 1: But because of who he is, because of what he

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Speaker 1: built in the in the company, because this brewery is

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Speaker 1: sort of an extension of my family, the way that

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Speaker 1: he's always he and my mom have always gathered people

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Speaker 1: in the neighborhoods where they've always lived, and um, you know,

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Speaker 1: there was always a family gathering, and so that kind

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Speaker 1: of inclusiveness, um, whether at the company's or in the neighborhoods. Um.

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Speaker 1: That's this is just a bigger, like wildly successful version

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Speaker 1: of how I was raised and um. And that's that's

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Speaker 1: really great because he did it his way, and he's

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Speaker 1: encouraged me so much to put my stamp on the brewery. UM.

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Speaker 1: So I don't know if it's like more feminine, but

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Speaker 1: it's going to be more me. UM. So like building,

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Speaker 1: We're gonna build trails on the property. We have forty

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Speaker 1: acres here and and I can't wait for that to

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Speaker 1: happen because I loved you know, I want to get

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Speaker 1: outside and enjoy the beauty of the stream on the

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Speaker 1: property and the trees and go around and then come

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Speaker 1: back and enjoy a beer. So that that feels more

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Speaker 1: like me and um, I don't know, there's just there.

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Speaker 1: We're just at like seeing the tip of what we

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Speaker 1: can do on this big property in this cavernous building.

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Speaker 1: Is it a crazy dream job? Um, I don't come

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Speaker 1: in and drink beer all day. Much to surprise of

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Speaker 1: some folks, it is a bigger opportunity than I ever

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Speaker 1: thought I would have, And I'd love to. Can I

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Speaker 1: tell you a quick success story about that? So, um,

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Speaker 1: so we're we're beer first and we have to do

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Speaker 1: that beautifully. Um. In addition that kind of like life

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Speaker 1: balance thing and the things that we appreciate with quality

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Speaker 1: of life and that whole thing. I came to Asheville

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Speaker 1: and was, um so excited about being outside. But this

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Speaker 1: is a small city and we don't have like the

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Speaker 1: belt line that you have in Atlanta. And I said, well,

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Speaker 1: how can I help that along? How can we help

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Speaker 1: people get outside, get places safely, get to jobs if

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Speaker 1: you don't have a car. Um all of those things,

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Speaker 1: and so greenways are kind of my passion. And we

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Speaker 1: started raising money for green ways through race through some

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Speaker 1: beer collaborations, and um, I got to work with somebody

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Speaker 1: from the city. I was maybe talking about it a lot,

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Speaker 1: and maybe she came and was like, Leah, why don't

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Speaker 1: we just have lunch, because let me let me help

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Speaker 1: you direct these conversations. So she taught me a lot

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Speaker 1: about how greenways works, all the steps involved, you know,

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Speaker 1: what does the city do and what do public and

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Speaker 1: private partnerships to um. So that was wonderful and we

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Speaker 1: you know, got some things in place, and we had

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Speaker 1: some fun and raise money and drink beers and we

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Speaker 1: raised about forty dollars and four years through a race

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Speaker 1: that we do here in some other efforts. And the

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Speaker 1: big thing that happened though, is through that conversation and

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Speaker 1: telling all of our you know, six hundred runners that

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Speaker 1: come here what they were contributing to by running this race.

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Speaker 1: That kind of got the attention somehow of city council

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Speaker 1: and the mayor, and they put the East Asheville Greenway,

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Speaker 1: which runs right near our property, on a bond package

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Speaker 1: and the Ashville voters passed it. So now that whole

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Speaker 1: greenway is funded. And I because I had listened to

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Speaker 1: my city you know teacher who was teaching me how

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Speaker 1: things work, I thought that we were on like a

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Speaker 1: fifteen year plan. Ten at least and in five years

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Speaker 1: that greenway is going to be built. That's beautiful. It's

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Speaker 1: the power of beer. It's yeah, it's a There is

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Speaker 1: power and beer because it collects people and people are

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Speaker 1: happy about it and they love to contribute to things.

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Speaker 1: So while you're doing a beer, if you can do

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Speaker 1: another great thing, then um, it just it just elevates everything.

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Speaker 1: We're going to take a pause right here for a minute.

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Speaker 1: We've got more of our interview with Leah, but first

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Speaker 1: we've got a quick break for a word from our sponsor,

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Speaker 1: and we're back. Thank you sponsor, and back to the interview.

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Speaker 1: What um you kind of hope for in the future,

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Speaker 1: both for your city, for the brewing scene, for beer,

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Speaker 1: for you future question? I know I was gonna ask

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Speaker 1: you about time. That was a really huge question. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so uh future for Highland take that piece first. Um,

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Speaker 1: we are in an amazing place. So the forty acres,

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Speaker 1: this huge building, there's plenty of space for us to

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Speaker 1: grow in, plenty of space for us to have fun

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Speaker 1: and for guests to do the same thing. So I

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Speaker 1: look forward to developing the property and still being like

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Speaker 1: we're never gonna be fancy and we're never going to

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Speaker 1: be a place where you have to dress up, um,

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Speaker 1: unless you want to when you're coming to a wedding.

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Speaker 1: Of course we do a bunch of those, but UM,

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Speaker 1: this is it's a manufacturing facility. But this is it's

401
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Speaker 1: very still close to the craft and the way that

402
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Speaker 1: this was done. It's still people doing all the work, UM,

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Speaker 1: and we want people to be kind of connected to

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Speaker 1: that when they come here, so that that gives this

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Speaker 1: direction on kind of how we're gonna look and feel,

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Speaker 1: UM with an eye towards sustainability and community the whole time. So,

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Speaker 1: I mean you've probably noticed we don't even have signage

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Speaker 1: up our driveway and um. And there's there's so many

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Speaker 1: things that we can do, but it's a family owned business,

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Speaker 1: so it's like one thing at a time, and you

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Speaker 1: prioritize where you're going to spend the money that you've

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Speaker 1: got and UM do things that that feel the most

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Speaker 1: valuable all the time. But it's a crazy time in

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Speaker 1: the industry right It's super packed. There's still thousands more

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Speaker 1: breweries that are going to open. UM. So the good

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Speaker 1: news of that though, is that that has made us better.

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Speaker 1: We've had to take a really close look at exactly

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Speaker 1: who we are and UM and and how to communicate

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Speaker 1: that to fans and two people that don't know us,

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Speaker 1: And that was really a big piece of our brand

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Speaker 1: refresh UM. So it's exciting that we've gotten better faster

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00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:02,639
Speaker 1: because of competition. What's your dad up to these days?

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Speaker 1: He's so fun like, so I rarely invite him to meetings.

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Speaker 1: He even less rarely wants to come, so that works out. UM.

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Speaker 1: But he is here every day. UM. He's seventy seven.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you've got to see him, but

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Speaker 1: he probably looks like he's fifty seven, plays handball twice

428
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 1: a week. UM has friends all over the country probably,

429
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,120
Speaker 1: and friends everywhere he goes. He's a he's a people magnet, charismatic,

430
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: so much fun and so I love having him here

431
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 1: and he will be involved whenever we asked him to UM.

432
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: But he's otherwise, you know, he's serving on the rotary

433
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 1: and UM on other boards which he spends a lot

434
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: of time on UM like connecting with people, but just

435
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,479
Speaker 1: in a different way, not in the really the daily

436
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,919
Speaker 1: business activities. So that's what he deserves, you know. He

437
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 1: can work as little as much as he wants. UM.

438
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,879
Speaker 1: But we've really you know, he's not on the leadership team.

439
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: He comes to the managers me things, because if he's here,

440
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 1: I'm like, you should come to that. You're here, you know,

441
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: you should probably just show up. But it's it's been

442
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,879
Speaker 1: an amazing opportunity and I think a rare one to

443
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 1: be in a second generation business and have the first

444
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: generations say do whatever you want. And I was like,

445
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,920
Speaker 1: holy crap, are you sure? And it took me years

446
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,159
Speaker 1: to kind of mare out my brain around that. But

447
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,840
Speaker 1: he he really means it, and so he's there for me.

448
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:28,919
Speaker 1: But um, kind of just you know, kind of in

449
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: the back seat. Does he comment on how everything's going.

450
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,920
Speaker 1: Does he give you feedback, advice, opinions? M a little

451
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: bit and so, which means that when he does, it's

452
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: important and I should listen. So um there, Yeah, there's

453
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: no perfection in doing my job or anyone's so um,

454
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 1: so that's really valuable when he does give feedback. But

455
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 1: you know, there are some other funny things where um,

456
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 1: you know, going back to the brand thing, it so big,

457
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: so it comes up a lot. But he was part

458
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 1: of some early conversations and then we did a whole

459
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: bunch of work, and then I kind of showed him like,

460
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 1: here's what we're gonna do with this thing that you've

461
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: been doing the same way for over twenty years. We're

462
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: gonna radically change it, and here's what it looks like.

463
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: And he was like, wow, do you like it? I

464
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,479
Speaker 1: was like yes. And here's why I rattled off all

465
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: these things, because I knew all of the research and

466
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 1: was in every single one of the meetings and and

467
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: he's like, all right, and that was it. That's that's fair.

468
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 1: That's no, that's that's that's that's good. I mean no,

469
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,239
Speaker 1: it's it is beauty, and it's it's you know, it's

470
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,840
Speaker 1: it's not nepotism, it's it's a family business. Thank you,

471
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: Thank you. Ashal's when we were talking about coming here

472
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: and like, what are the coming threads that maybe we

473
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 1: can make this narrative or this story about, and one

474
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,360
Speaker 1: that kept going up was art. And I guess I'd

475
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 1: never considered how much food and like making beer is

476
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: part of the art scene. And so it's been really

477
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 1: cool to hear people everyone we talked to kind of

478
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: bring it up and to know that that is part

479
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: of the art scene of Asheville. That like it shouldn't.

480
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: You shouldn't discount that kind of stuff, And that's part

481
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: of like the creative part, in the fun part of

482
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: making beer, and also like just the sense of community

483
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: and connection with people because we all like to we

484
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: all have to eat, and we like to drink, and

485
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: we can connect over it. And it's kind of been

486
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 1: really really beautiful. I don't really have a question so

487
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: much as like, I don't know if you have any

488
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: comments and thoughts on that, but I mean just the

489
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: fact that I enjoy being a tourist in my own city,

490
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: So I mean spending money in restaurants here is so

491
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 1: worth it and all of the different feels and and

492
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,040
Speaker 1: atmospheres and um food style else and everybody takes so

493
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: much pride in what they do. I mean, that's what

494
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: it takes to do any kind of craft, right. You've

495
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 1: got to be you've got a rabbit hole into that

496
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 1: deeper than anybody else will And most people will only

497
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: understand me at the top, like the surface ten percent

498
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: of it. But when you dive deeper, if there's authenticity

499
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: behind it and somebody's passion and somebody's done something beautifully,

500
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,640
Speaker 1: then there's value. Would you tell us about the building

501
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: the that you guys are in. Yes, uh, well, this

502
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: building is very special. It was i think built in

503
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: the fifties and it was a ball bearing plant, which

504
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: is some nasty business. It was a of a lower

505
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: plant which had to be in the seventies, and it's

506
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: been a movie production studio, so there are some really

507
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,640
Speaker 1: weird movie props left over from that. That was exciting.

508
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: Rotating saw blades from a horror movie. Uh, fake dynamite

509
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: from some thing. That completely freaked us out one day.

510
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the police were here. I mean it was

511
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 1: like it was scary, uh and fake as it turned out.

512
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: But we didn't know that. When there's a serial number

513
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: and a company name and a phone number and someone

514
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: answers the phone on the other side and says the

515
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: company name, you freak out. So that happened. Um. But no,

516
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: when we got this building, we rented it for a while,

517
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 1: just the production side. It was one smaller section of

518
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: the brewery and um, and that's how the company kind

519
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 1: of started as a production distributing brewery. And now we

520
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 1: are in the like the hospitality business too, which was

521
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: this unforeseen, really fun but really demanding part of the business. Um.

522
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 1: So we're in that one spot and people started kind

523
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: of coming by and we're like, well, what if we

524
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 1: set up a tap over here and sell a beer

525
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: and and they'll hang out near the tanks. And they

526
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: brought their dogs, but that doesn't work, so shove them

527
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 1: outside and put a band out there. And then it

528
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: was too near the empty kegs, and so we built

529
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: the tasting room and we can fit six people in there. Um.

530
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 1: And then we built the built a meadow, which is

531
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 1: always an ongoing project to make an outdoor space even better.

532
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: And there's a bar out there and outdoor bathrooms and

533
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,480
Speaker 1: a stage. Um. So then and then probably a third

534
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: expansion was to build the packaging hall events center on

535
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 1: rooftop bar and they kind of happened at the same time,

536
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: which was a stretch for us. But we have this

537
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 1: gorgeous packaging hall and it was that whole area was

538
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 1: so gross before we got this building. I thought my

539
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: dad had lost his mind because after renting the production area,

540
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 1: then we rented more, then we bought the whole building.

541
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:53,239
Speaker 1: So it's huge and um and it was I mean

542
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: name it asbestos, mold leaks in the roof, trees growing

543
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: through the floor on the inside of the building. I

544
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: think it was a wreck and um, it has taken

545
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: a lot of love to bring it back from like

546
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: the brink of disaster to a fairly functional, um and

547
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: rustic but really cool and comfortable and welcoming place. So

548
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: we'll continue to work on it, um And. And there's

549
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: so much more that we can do. So we kind

550
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: of like love and hate the building. It's given us

551
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: a lot of heart aches, but it is home. There

552
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: is a lot of beer in Asheville. There's a lot

553
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,239
Speaker 1: of breweries. Um And you kind of talked about how

554
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 1: Ashville has its roots in sort of being craft kind

555
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: of community, and I'm just curious. I've heard that it's

556
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 1: because the water is good. Why do you think there's

557
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: so much good beer here? Great water? It really is great.

558
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: Like we do so little to it, um And I

559
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: love to say we get the first crack at it.

560
00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 1: That's disgusting, but it's true. Um. So yeah, I mean

561
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,000
Speaker 1: there's there's that and then that quality of life, beer,

562
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: beverage outside, all of those things kind of wrapped up.

563
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: So that's that's part of it. Um And like to

564
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: give the Highland team and my dad credit to when

565
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 1: he started the brewery, he was so intentional about connecting

566
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: with people to say like this, this is the kind

567
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 1: of company we are, and this is the kind of

568
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: brewery we are. Because we were the first ones in town,

569
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: we did get some letters that were like, you're going

570
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 1: to ruin this place, and and Dad wanted to be

571
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: clear to say, no, we're we're going to make this better,

572
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: and we're going to give a reason for people to

573
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 1: come together and and talk, whether it's about beer or whatever.

574
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: And the neighbors are going to come together. And so

575
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: that has happened two. I mean to a degree that

576
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:54,000
Speaker 1: he never would have envisioned. Um. So some of that

577
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: is is great and some of it was like, oh crap,

578
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,120
Speaker 1: like we better do some more thinking really quick. So

579
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: um yeah, but it's it's a great place. And this

580
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:10,719
Speaker 1: brings us to the end of our bonus episode. In

581
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: our interview with Leah, we hope you enjoyed it. Just

582
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:19,480
Speaker 1: for a fun aside. Immediately after this, we hide tailed

583
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 1: it over to Well Played to interview Kevin. We Oh,

584
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:24,360
Speaker 1: that's right. We did a lot. We fit a lot in.

585
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,640
Speaker 1: We did what was it, eleven thirt interviews over the

586
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 1: course of four days. No one knows, Lauren, No one

587
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:35,480
Speaker 1: really know. It cannot be counted. It just too many

588
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 1: a part of me things. We're still in Nashville now,

589
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:48,200
Speaker 1: haunting those halls, roaming loss just going. Someone bring us beer. Also,

590
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 1: any type of food would be good. I like that

591
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: where like um awkward, embarrassed ghost Yeah kind that sounds

592
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: about right. Yeah, no, that's I think that's our brand. Yeah,

593
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 1: it's appropriate. We would love to hear from all of

594
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 1: you listeners. You can email us. We are at hello

595
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 1: at savor pod dot com. You can also find us

596
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,279
Speaker 1: on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We are

597
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: at savor Pod. Thank you so much to Leah and

598
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,360
Speaker 1: the whole team over at Highland Brewing. They were delightful.

599
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our super producer Dylan. Thanks to

600
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 1: you for listening, and we hope that lots more good

601
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 1: things are coming your way