

Most employees are hikers, and there’s a sizable contingent of paddlers and cyclists.
#HIGHLAND BREWING PLUS#
My father saw the connection between a successful business and quality of life, the ability to connect with your surroundings and a desire to protect natural resources.”Īsheville’s outdoor resources have always been a big plus for Highland staff, Ashburn says. “The city’s values lined up with my family’s values. “My parents fell in love with Asheville’s mountains, people and quality of life,” says Leah Wong Ashburn, Highland Brewing president (and Oscar Wong’s daughter).

In the same time span that saw Highland Brewing achieve such success, Asheville earned the title of “Beer City USA,” and Wong is credited with launching the city’s meteoric rise in the craft beer industry. Today Highland has 47 full-time employees can host over 4,000 people in a facility that includes a tasting room, deck, rooftop bar, meadow and private event center and distributes beer in seven states, from Florida to Virginia. The following year he founded Highland Brewing Company, the first legal brewery in Asheville since Prohibition, in a basement under Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria downtown.

It was great water and a welcoming community that drew Oscar Wong to Asheville in 1993. Success Story Shared Values Drew Craft Beer Pioneer to Asheville
