News

Triskelion on Seventh to have two-story taproom

By Bill Moss, Published: June 26, 2017

Jonathan Ayers is close to moving equipment into his brewhouse on Seventh Avenue and starting on the retail side of the brewery.

Ayers’s Triskelion Brewing Co. will boast the first two-story taproom this side of Sierra Nevada.
“We are about a week away from getting footers in the ground” for the taproom, he said. “We got the plans approved. It’s a 2,500-square-foot footprint with about 3,900 square feet of space because it’s two stories.” The site will also have a 3,500-square-foot enclosed outdoor beer garden.
“We have tons and tons of space,” he said.
A homebrewer for nine years, Ayers started formal schooling in brewing four years ago and now has five different degrees or certifications. The brewery started out with the name Stagshead, which caused a stumbling block.
“We had a major beer company that said one of the beers in their portfolio had a somewhat similar name to it and rather than go through the legal process we just changed ours,” he said. “Our second trademark went through unobstructed. … The word triskelion dates from the Greek and means three legs. It’s a really cool symbol. The only realistic meaning it has is that it talks about the movement of life, life not being static, having a beginning, middle and end to all things. It’s also the first piece of jewelry I ever bought my wife, back when we were dating,”
Triskelion will offer a feature that Ayers predicts will be popular and promises will be cheap.
“One of the unique features we’ve designed is upstairs has an identical bar to downstairs and we’ll be renting it on off nights for $30,” he says. “It’s really hard to find quality rentable space around town for small informal get-togethers.”
He will install a canning machine capable of labeling, so he’ll be able to can even small batches. Each bar upstairs and down will have 24 taps.
Ayers, a builder whose father owns Newpointe construction company, has seen enough construction delays to avoid a hard prediction on his opening date. He still has to build a 4,000-square-foot taproom.
“The best I can tell you is we’re going to open when it’s ready,” he said. “Every day something pops up whether it’s the weather or a piece of equipment. We’ve not going to rush this thing. We’ve put way too much time, money and effort into it. The beer and the environment is really going to be an asset not only to the city but also the beer culture in Western North Carolina.”
He predicts Triskelion will bring young people to Seventh Avenue.
“It’s not really so much an age group as it is a mentality,” he said. “I plan on being able to bring a lot of youth and vitality to the area.”