Brewery Owners Plan Expansion

Christmas Ale?
Yes, The Olde Hickory Brewery has Christmas Ale - an ale so good, it would even make the Grinch smile.
One can still expect seasonal quality beers as well as the handcrafted beers patrons have grown to love under The Olde Hickory Brewery's new management. |
New owners Steven Lyerly and Jason Yates have big new plans for the microbrewery, which include increasing the number of barrels of beer made during a year.
Over the past year, 300 barrels (which equals 600 kegs of beer) of beer were made at The Olde Hickory Brewery. Lyerly said the goal is to brew 3,000 barrels of beer per year within three years.
Lyerly is the brewmaster at the English Pub which will carry four beers all year and at least two seasonal beers at all times.
The favorites that will be brewed all year include Brown Mountain Light, Crawdad Red Ale, Hickory Stick Stout, and Table Rock Pale Ale.
Besides the Christmas Ale, the brewery is now carrying a Raspberry Ale. The Raspberry Ale was requested by the connoisseurs of the brewery, so Lyerly gave it a try, and the educated crowd had something else to cheer about.
Other goals are to expand the brewery, build a larger bar area, bottle beer, open on Sundays and have live entertainment on Mondays.
In addition to brewing beers, Lyerly and Yates want to produce sodas like root beers and creme sodas.
"Brewing soda is similar to brewing beer, but making sodas does not require fermentation," Lyerly said.
Making beer and soda requires "listening and watching," Lyerly said. "Brewing is really a lot like cooking,." It takes creativity, patience and caring to make the beer.
Some larger cities do not have their own breweries, Lyerly said. "I think Hickory's lucky to have their own brewery," Lyerly said. "Fresh beer always tastes better," Lyerly said.
Yates, who used to be a faithful customer of the brewery, enjoyed it so much he became part owner. Yates and Lyerly became the new owners on Dec. 4.
Yates said one of his goals is to educate people about fine beer. Possible beer tastings and classes may be available in the future.
"Our goal is to be the best brewery," Yates said.
Yates said he and Lyerly are in the hand-crafting beer business for the long-run. "We just want to make good, quality beer," Yates said.
The Olde Hickory Brewery is even on the World Wide Web. The address is: http://users.aol.com/oldehickry/ohb.htm
Hickory's beer is becoming famous worldwide as Lyerly's Hickory Stick Stout was given the title "The very best beer of the show," by a famed beer judge at the Southeastern Microbrewers Invitational in April. American hand-crafted beer has become real popular in pubs across the world, Lyerly said.
The Olde Hickory Brewery's new motto is "Think Globally, Drink Locally, Support Your Local Brewery."

Copyright 1995, The Hickory Daily Record