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New Belgium Picks North Carolina For East Coast Beer Expansion

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - New Belgium Brewing is building its East Coast brewery in western North Carolina, potentially creating more than 150 jobs.

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue's office announced Thursday that the nation's third-largest craft brewer plans to invest $175 million over seven years in Buncombe County.

The Fort Collins-based maker of Fat Tire Ale would become the second craft brewer in 2012 to choose the Asheville area for a brewery. California-based Sierra Nevada announced in January that it would build a brewery in nearby Mills River.

Lawmakers in North Carolina last year changed laws to allow larger beer-makers such as Sierra Nevada to sell their product on site.

New Belgium CEO and co-founder Kim Jordan said Asheville had everything the company was looking for in a location for its second brewery.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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