BREVARD, N.C. (WSPA) – Outdoor activities are a part of Transylvania County life; one Brevard brewery is a big contributor.

Josh Chambers moved to Brevard from Little Rock, Arkansas. His love for craft beer led to Ecusta Brewing.

“We needed a change, and so we found the mountains of western North Carolina, my wife, we drove over here, she looked at Brevard and in five minutes said this is where we’re going to move.”

The brewery moved to a new location this past October, rehabbing the former medical facility of the old Ecusta Paper Mill, the only building left of a once sprawling facility.   

“It was definitely a diamond in the rough, I mean, had you seen this place before…and even my lender looked at me, she just looked at me and said. “Ok, I trust ya.”

It’s now an indoor/outdoor space, with a separate bar for special events.   

Brewing is done downstairs.   

They can have eight beers working in the tanks at once.     

Upstairs, 20 taps are available, 16 dedicated to their in-house brews, representing multiple styles.

“I like to go balanced, and that’s what I feel like we do really well is we bring a balance into our malts and our hops.”

Looking for something with a little fruit? They’ve got that, too, with a different take on seltzers. 

“So what we do is we do just a plain seltzer, the people that order the seltzer can add in whatever freshly squeezed fruit that they want, usually we have two or three options.”

Ecusta Brewing Company is located right on the Brevard Bike Path which hooks up to the Pisgah National Forest, making this a great place for those who enjoy the outdoors.

They also partner with outdoor causes.   

A portion of the proceeds from Rails to Trails Pale Ale supports Friends of the Ecusta Trail. 

The Three Amigos Mexican lager is another fundraiser.   

“There are these three guys, they volunteer their time and they go into the forest, nobody even knew this, they go up It the forest and would maintain trails and rebuild bridges and do it on their own dime and time. A dollar of each pint goes to those guys to help pay for chainsaws, lumber, gas, stuff like that.”  

In addition to partnerships with Conserving Carolina and Pisgah Pride Day, they’ve also run Fat Tuesday gumbo cook-offs for the Almost Home no-kill dog shelter. 

On June 24th, you can attend the St. Baldrick’s shave-a-thon, raising funds for children’s cancer research.   

Bringing smiles to those who come in is a point of pride at the brewery.   

“The most rewarding is just seeing happy people come in, I mean I get to do this every day!”

Enjoy responsibly.