The state of North Carolina has developed a reputation as THE place for good beer on the East Coast.
The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and the hipster haven of Asheville have even managed to attract craft brewing royalty such as Sierra Nevada and New Belgium.
Outside of Asheville (a.k.a. “Beer City”), the small towns of Western North Carolina have emerged as a remarkably fertile region for unique beers and delicious homegrown ciders.
Perhaps no place better exemplifies this than the town of Brevard, the county seat of Transylvania Country.
It’s an ideal jumping-off spot for exploring the Cradle of Forestry and the myriad waterfalls of the southernmost district of Pisgah National Forest.
In addition to a beautiful downtown area, Brevard’s back streets and side streets contain secret haunts that make it a wonderful place to put on the itinerary. Especially if you go in search of a Brevard brewery.
Read on for our list of great breweries in Brevard NC, breweries near Brevard, and even a handful of cideries near Brevard to round things out.
READ MORE: The 15 Best Things to Do in Brevard NC & Transylvania County
Brevard Breweries and Cideries Guide
- Brevard Brewing Company (Brevard)
- Ecusta Brewing Company (Brevard)
- Noblebräu Brewing (Brevard)
- Oskar Blues Brewery (Brevard)
- UpCountry Brewing Brevard (Brevard)
- Bold Rock Mills River Cidery (Mills River)
- Burning Blush Brewery (Mills River)
- Sierra Nevada (Mills River)
- D9 Brewing (Hendersonville)
- Dry Falls Brewing (Hendersonville)
- Jeter Mountain Farm (Hendersonville)
- Oklawaha Brewing (Hendersonville)
READ MORE: The 15 Best North Carolina Mountain Towns to Visit
Brevard Breweries
1. Brevard Brewing Company
63 E. Main St, Brevard NC • 828-885-2101
A local original, the Brevard Brewing Company is located on the main drag in one of our favorite mountain towns in North Carolina.
The brewery specializes in lagers, aiming to add flavor where many microbreweries take it away. But they also strive to keep the beer drinkable, where some craft breweries are focused on continually adding more hops.
This family-owned brewery was the first to open in Transylvania County.Brevard Brewing Company was founded in 2012 by Kyle Williams, who remains the brewmaster today.
The doors open from 2PM to 10Pm every day. Although there’s no food made on-site, take-out food from dozens of nearby restaurants is welcome.
American Premium Lager is the specialty here, but there are other very good standards worth tasting, including their Bohemian Pilsner and Munich Dunkel.
READ MORE: The Top 15 Waterfalls Near Brevard NC (Transylvania County)
2. Ecusta Brewing Company
451 Ecusta Rd, Brevard NC • 828-966-2337
With a primo location just outside the Pisgah National Forest gates on US-276, the Ecusta Brewing Company is inspired by outdoor adventure and loves to pair it with some tasty brews.
This Brevard brewery has outdoor seating right on the Davidson River. There’s also a big indoor taproom serving Ecusta mainstays, seasonal brews, and guest taps for local hard ciders and ginger beer.
Service starts at noon from Friday to Sunday, and at 1 PM Monday through Thursday. The bar closes at 9 PM on Friday and Saturday, and at 8 PM on the other nights.
Ecusta doesn’t serve food, but food trucks frequent the parking lot and take-out from nearby restaurants can be brought into the brewery.
Rails-2-Trails is their signature IPA, and Guide Beer is a brilliant blonde ale with under %5 alcohol. Eddy Out is an award-winning ESB, and Stinger is the brewery’s original sour ale.
READ MORE: The Ultimate Pisgah National Forest Camping Guide
3. Noblebraü Brewing
185 King St, Brevard NC • 828-877-1850
Tucked away just outside Downtown Brevard, Noblebräu is a German-inspired brewery with an attached restaurant located in a live music venue in The Lumberyard Arts District.
185 King Street originally opened as a music venue geared to supporting local artists, and it has expanded from there. Now, Noblebräu is part of the party.
The doors open at 3 or 4 PM on weekdays and noon on Saturdays and Sundays. Most nights end at about 11 PM, and they’re closed on Mondays.
The menu at 185 King Street is very pub-oriented, with finger food snacks like Cup o’ Fries and Jumbo Bavarian Pretzels, as well as a short but solid list of sandwiches.
Hausbier is a straightforward German pilsner, and there is a rotating selection of two or three other choices.
READ MORE: The 15 Best Things to Do in Little Switzerland NC
4. Oskar Blues Brewery
324 Mountain Industrial Dr, Brevard NC • 828-883-2337
Originating in Colorado, Oskar Blues has expanded both south and east. Austin TX has an Oskar Blues Brewery, and there’s an Oskar Blues in Brevard NC as well.
The Brevard brewery, facility, and taproom are tucked away on a back road, and it has a delightful atmosphere to go along with the breathtaking views of North Carolina’s mountain peaks to the west.
There are free tours of the facility, and there’s an indoor taproom and outdoor taproom with plenty of games, live music, and food trucks mingling in.
It opens at noon daily and closes at 8 PM on Sundays, 9 PM Monday through Thursday, and 10 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
Dale’s Pale Ale is Oskar Blues’ tasty flagship beer, while Mama’s Little Yella Pils is a well-crafted crowd-pleaser, and Old Chub is the heavy Scottish Ale that smacks perfectly when the weather turns cold.
READ MORE: The 15 Best North Carolina Wineries to Visit
5. UpCountry Brewing Brevard
212 King St Suite B, Brevard NC • 828-885-7538
A successful West Asheville NC brewery, UpCountry Brewing has also opened a taproom in Brevard, where they serve up an eclectic collection of beers.
The facility opens at 2 PM seven days a week, and it closes at 9 PM Sunday through Thursday and at 10 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
This is a great place to catch some live music in the evening!
Some of the most popular UpCountry brews include SCAMPer IPA, Hop Dread (a red IPA), Bogey Free (a session selection), UpCo Mountain Lager, and lots of funky goses.
UpCountry is also a fine distillery and makes several spirits, including barrel-aged rum, agave spirit, gin, whiskey, and vodka.
READ MORE: The 10 Best North Carolina Distilleries to Visit
Mills River Breweries & Cideries
6. Bold Rock Mills River Cidery
72 School House Rd, Mills River NC • 828-595-9940
Bold Rock uses local Hendersonville apples to make its excellent collection of ciders, but it’s the largest independently owned cidery in the USA!
Opened in 2015 right in the heart of apple orchard country, the Bold Rock facility has indoor and outdoor seating.
They also offer tours of the cidery, and host a series of exciting events throughout the year.
There is a restaurant onsite offering good gastropub fare, such as fries, wings, nachos, burgers, sandwiches, etc.
Their ciders are quite varied, with Imperial Cider, Apple, Pineapple, Premium Dry, Blackberry, and IPA being Bold Rocks standbys. They also offer some sensational seasonal selections.
Bold Rock also offers hard tea, hard lemonade, non-alcoholic sparkling cider, and a wide selection of local craft beers for those seeking something other than their hard cider selections.
READ MORE: 30 Fascinating Facts About the Appalachian Mountains for Trivia Buffs
7. Burning Blush Brewery
4891 Boylston Hwy, Mills River NC • 828-595-9859
A small, family-owned business in Mills River, Burning Blush Brewery is a relative newcomer on the Brevard brewery scene.
They’ve taken a unique angle, paying homage to Victorian times with a romantic gothic theme.
Their name, Burning Blush, is even lifted from an Edgar Allen Poe poem.
The gorgeously decorated brewery doesn’t have an in-house restaurant, but there are food trucks is scheduled nightly, offering up an eclectic mix of dishes to try.
Like the food trucks, the beer on tap is constantly rotating, so it’s always an adventure of ales, lagers, IPAs, English bitters, and more.
READ MORE: The 6 Best Boone NC Breweries & Brewpubs
8. Sierra Nevada
100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River NC • 828-708-6242
The California-based Sierra Nevada Brewery came in and completely changed the landscape of the Asheville and Western North Carolina beer scene.
But they did so with an eye on uplifting local craft breweries rather than out-competing them.
Sierra Nevada Mills River is a ridiculously fine facility with a top-notch restaurant, several levels of seating, amazing free tours, and a huge outdoor area with a stage for live music.
It has also been carefully designed and engineered to be as eco-friendly as possible.
Despite its success and size, Sierra Nevada is still an independently owned and family-operated company. And its original Pale Ale, which was created long before pale ales were all the rage, still takes the gold.
The Sierra Nevada taproom is open from 11 AM to 9 PM Sunday through Thursday, but it stays open until 10 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
READ MORE: Exploring the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Mills River NC
Hendersonville Breweries and Cideries
9. D9 Brewing
425 N Main St, Hendersonville NC • 828-595-9995
Already a Charlotte NC sensation, D9 Brewing has become part of a unique Hendersonville setup in which its Main Street tasting room doubles as a coffee shop in the mornings.
D9 is on a new mission to create small microbreweries throughout the state of North Carolina, while continuing their original mission of creating uniquely original beers.
Taproom hours at D9 Brewing Hendersonville are from 3 PM to 9 PM Monday through Thursday, 2 PM to 11 PM on Fridays, noon to 11 PM on Saturdays, and 1 PM to 8 PM on Sundays.
Some of D9’s most popular brews include Swell Rider Tangerine Session, Hakuna Matata Tropical IPA, and Brown Sugar Brown Cow Mocha Brown Ale. They also have gose and sour ales on offer.
READ MORE: The 15 Best Things to Do in Hendersonville NC
10. Dry Falls Brewing
425 Kanuga Rd, Hendersonville • 828-696-0660
The culmination of a father-son dream/hobby, the Dry Falls Brewing Co in Hendersonville is a long-standing community body shop (Oates Paint & Body Shop) turned rustic brewery and taproom.
Food trucks offer something to eat every day, and there are regular music events and live music shows.
Dry Falls Brewing is open 7 days a week, from 4 PM to 10 PM Monday through Thursday, noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 9 PM on Sundays.
The beer list at Dry Falls is extensive and runs the full gamut of IPA, pilsner, stout, brown ale, red ale, blond ale, wheat beer, and more.
They also have some small batch and seasonal beers on tap as well.
READ MORE: The 10 Best Hendersonville NC Restaurants for Foodies
11. Jeter Mountain Farm
1126 Jeter Mountain Rd, Hendersonville NC • 828-513-0404
Jeter Mountain Farm makes small-batch hard ciders using fruit from their own apple orchard, creating delicious drinks that are as local as they come.
The state-of-the-art facility was founded by a family that has been into farming for over 150 years now.
The farm opens at 10 AM every Thursday through Sunday during u-pick apple season (mid-July to the end of October). On Thursdays and Fridays the gates close at 3 PM, while on Saturdays and Sundays they close at 5 PM.
Visiting this North Carolina farm is much more a family event than a trip to a taproom. It includes U-pick fruits, a BBQ food truck, a market, and a coffee house.
In addition to three pure apple presses– The Original, The Granny, and The Pink Lady– JMF also uses their fresh-grown blackberries and grapes to flavor ciders as well.
READ MORE: Apple Picking in North Carolina: The 15 Best NC Apple Orchards
12. Oklawaha Brewing
147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville NC • 828-595-9956
Formerly known as Sanctuary Brewing, Oklawaha Brewing is a nano-brewery that makes small-batch ales, including hoppy IPAs, classic German styles, and sours.
The brewpub has thematic nights, including NFL football on Sundays, trivia nights on Tuesdays, and live music several evenings a week.
This Hendersonville brewery opens at noon daily and closes at 10 PM Mondays through Thursdays, midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 9 PM on Sundays.
As for food, Oklawaha serves Roots Hummus and other locally produced snacks, but outside food from dozens of nearby restaurants is permitted.
Their taps are categorized into “light,” “hoppy,” and “malty and dark,” with flagship beers including Imperial Pig Double IPA and Hog Pig American IPA. –by Jonathon Engels, lead photo via Canva
