River Arts District brewery opens, dares to brew something new in Asheville
ASHEVILLE - A veteran brewer is striking out to bring something new to Asheville’s flourishing beer industry.
On May 20, owner Robert Lemery will welcome guests to The River Arts District Brewing Company, opening at 13 Mystery St. in Asheville.
The brewery will debut with a grand opening party from noon-10 p.m., during Asheville Beer Week, with an event that includes an arts and crafts market, live music, and food for purchase from Queen’s Island Cuisine food truck.
Also, guests may taste the inaugural brews.
Asheville and the surrounding communities have a significant number of established breweries, but Lemery sees room for RAD Brewing Co. in the industry. And he aims to focus on local patrons on a more intimate level.
“The way I phrase it is ‘butts and seats.’ There are more butts coming than there are seats to put them in,” Lemery said. “There’s always space for a brewery. I don’t think the market is saturated. I think we can all coexist. However many customers come in here per day aren’t going to affect the other businesses whatsoever. There are more butts coming, and I’m just going to give them a few extra seats to sit in.”
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Making RAD beer
Robert Lemery ― known to most as Lem ― and RAD Brewing’s general manager Shawn Robinson met while working together at Wicked Weed Brewing.
Lemery was the head brewer for nearly three years until 2019. He left with a plan to open his own brewery, though his plans were delayed by a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Robinson was a bar manager at the South Slope brew pub and joined the RAD Brewing team in 2022.
“It’s kind of in my blood. My father’s a business owner and has been since the day I was born,” Lemery said. “I grew up in a house where my dad was his own boss and I think we all have that in our blood ― my older brother has done it and my younger brother, as well. Once I found out that people can brew beer and it’s something you can do as a career, not just a hobby ― I enjoyed the process so much and the resulting product so much that I knew this was the industry for me and it was something I wanted to do on my own.”
Lemery is applying his nearly 13 years of brewing experience to produce high-quality ales and lagers using a small-batch brewing system. The first five beers to be released will be an easy-drinking summer ale, double IPA, hazy IPA, brown ale and a French-style beer with notes of blueberries and lemons.
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“Something we’ve been saying a lot is ‘variety is our specialty.’ Over my years of experience, I’ve had my hand in recipes from old-world international styles to new modern styles that are hip and trendy right now. To be able to experiment within those kinds of styles as well,” Lemery said. “And that’s what I plan to do here. We have a system that is sized appropriately to continually brew a wide variety of beer and move through brands in a timely manner, keeping it fresh and keeping new things coming. We want to make sure we’re staying current and paying homage to the old, classic beer styles.”
The 20 taps will feature drafts from RAD Brewing or other craft breweries. The bar also will be stocked with wine, hard cider and ginger beer, kombucha, draft coffee, sodas and other soft drinks.
RAD Brewing’s brews will be available only in the taproom on draft or by an aluminum can to-go crowlers. Later, the business may distribute to select, local bars and restaurants.
The taproom, deck and beer garden
RAD Brewing is located at 13 Mystery St. ― an appropriate address as the brewery is tucked behind neighboring businesses and hidden from street view. The gravel drive opens to a property enclosed by vegetation, adding to the intimate atmosphere on the deck and in the beer garden.
The smaller building to the left was a stonecutter’s workshop for nearly a century.
“My understanding of it, going back to 1923, every time the stonecutter occupying that building was ready to retire and had all the equipment, just found another stonecutter to take over up until recently,” Robinson said.
The brewery and taproom are in the larger building which was used for storing marble slabs and headstones.
“We’ve kept the bones of it. Even our wood floor and the wood in our walls were all part of the original building,” Robinson said.
The original wood was used to construct the taproom bar, too.
The design blends historic and modern aesthetics with upcycled, natural wood and new steel.
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A wheelchair accessible ramp was added to the front of the building and wraps around to a lower and upper deck.
The brewery is an estimated 31,000 square feet and has an indoor capacity of about 70 people with at least 20 more seats on the deck. The open, lower beer garden is set with new wooden picnic tables with ample space to roam.
“This location offers something unique. You can find breweries with plenty of green space, but you find those as you get further out to the outskirts of Asheville,” Robinson said. “For this location to be right at the foot of downtown and right at the opening of River Arts District ― to have this idyllic setting around here. I’ve sat out here and watched the sunset out here and it’s just peaceful and serene.”
RAD Brewing Co. is family and dog friendly.
Food trucks will be on-site on select days.
As an homage to the River Arts District, the brewery’s walls will feature local artists with artwork available for purchase.
“As our neighborhood is the River Arts District, we want to be one with the River Arts District and the River Arts District artists,” Lemery said. “We’re going to try to indoctrinate ourselves here within in the community and everybody gets to be welcomed here and give them a place to show their art and express their art, as well.”
River Arts District Brewing Company
Where: 13 Mystery St., Asheville
Opening: May 20
Hours: Noon-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; noon-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Info: For more, visit https://theradbrewco.com/. Follow on social media at https://www.instagram.com/theradbrewco/.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: RAD Brew Co. opens in historic site, brings something new to Asheville
