ting starts today in the national 2013 Beer City Poll, and four-time champ Asheville is defending the crown that it shares with Grand Rapids, Mich.The online popularity contest, conducted by noted brew authority Charlie Papazian, lets voters cast ballots for their favorite beer city. Voting will continue through Friday at www.examiner.com/beer. You may vote once per computer, smartphone or network.
The poll has given Asheville some major national publicity for its craft brewing community. In 2009, the voting was fierce between much bigger Portland, Ore. Asheville won outright in 2010 and 2011, and tied with Grand Rapids last year. Grand Rapids is home to the highly respected Founders Brewing Co.
“Some people may not think it matters, but let’s show the world that we are still enthusiastic,” said Oscar Wong, president of Highland Brewing, who opened the city’s first craft brewery in 1994. “Now that Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues are here, of course we are are Beer City USA.”
Through it all, Asheville’s craft brewing scene has grown. In 2009, Buncombe County had just six craft breweries. This year, with the June opening of Hi-Wire Brewing, Buncombe County is home to 13 breweries with at least three more set to open here.
That doesn’t include New Belgium Brewing, which will open its big Asheville brewery in 2015 in the River Arts District. Nor does it include Sierra Nevada’s East Coast brewery in Mills River, set to open later this year. Oskar Blues opened its east coast expansion last year in Brevard.
