News

‘Yes we can’ brew on campus, BRCC says

Chris English, with scissors, and Brewing, Fermentation and Distilling instructor Gabe Mixon, right, and community leaders celebrate new BRCC facility.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 26, 2015

When they applied for state permits to make beer at Blue Ridge Community College, college officials learned the task was harder than it sounded.

“They gave us special agents to help us because this doesn’t exist,” said Chris English, BRCC’s dean for applied technology.
Things that didn’t exist a few years ago in Henderson County are some of the biggest things going now. On Friday, BRCC administrators, teachers and students and business leaders celebrated completion of the Brewing, Fermentation and Distilling equipment that will vault the college into the next level of training for one of the fastest growing segments of business — making booze.
“It’s amazing to be in this facility in a community college and think that almost 10 years ago this would not have existed,” said English. He could have but did not mention that three years ago retail beer sales were illegal in unincorporated Henderson County. “To think how brewing, fermentation and distilling is driving the local economy is just huge. It’s a huge driver to our economy.”
English said the program doesn’t exist as far as he knows anywhere in the South, either. The only other educational programs like it, he said, are at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and the University of California at Davis. Hendersonville’s BFD got a big boost from the Duke Energy Foundation, which gave BRCC a $249,867 grant to buy the equipment.
“It helps support economic development and it’s surely a growing industry in Western North Carolina,” said Craig DeBrew, district manager for Duke Energy.
Currently 24 students are enrolled in the brewing, wine-making and distilling program. They get hands-on experience through internships at Sierra Nevada, Oscar Blues, Highland Gaelic, Southern Appalachian Brewery and other craft breweries. The new brewery equipment allows students to get hands-on experience on campus.
Gabe Mixon, who grew up in Sylva, has an undergraduate degree in biology from Duke and masters in microtechnology from N.C. State University. He is the brewer for BRCC’s program. When students made a batch they called Yes We Can pale ale, they couldn’t sell it because BRCC has no permit. The college brewery, which christened the Blue Ridge Brew Lab, may be able to sell its product by late summer.
“We’ll put the money back into the program,” English said.