Appalachian Mountain Brewery plans new Old Fort taproom in Western North Carolina

Appalachian Mountain Brewery is making a calculated bet in Old Fort, placing a new taproom and restaurant inside Modern Alchemist Co. and pushing deeper into Western North Carolina at a moment when destination spaces still matter. This is not just another pour wall in a growing market. It is a move into a town where redevelopment, through-travel and local drinking habits overlap, and where a brewery can still win by building a place people want to visit, not just a place they pass through.

AMB was founded in Boone in 2011 and opened its first craft brewery there in 2013, giving the company a homegrown identity that has carried across the mountains. Nathan Kelischek, Chris Zieber and Sean Spiegelman built the brand around sustainability, local nonprofits and community support, and Kelischek and Zieber bought the company back from Anheuser-Busch InBev in May 2023. That return to local ownership came after a long run of growth, from 499 barrels brewed in 2013 to about 4,000 barrels in 2016 and 10,000 barrels in 2019.

The Old Fort project extends that playbook. Modern Alchemist Co. is set in an 8,500-square-foot former sock factory, and the founders have described it as part distillery, part brewery, part restaurant and part cannabis bar. The concept is meant to feel like a destination, not a quick stop, and it gives AMB another way to stretch its brand beyond standard beer service. That matters in Western North Carolina, where breweries increasingly need multiple revenue streams and where the best taprooms function as hospitality anchors as much as beverage outlets.

AMB already has one model for that kind of expansion in Mills River. Its taproom there opened in a restored mechanic shop and includes a 3,000-square-foot taproom and a 4,000-square-foot beer garden with a kids’ play area. The Old Fort outpost appears to be cut from the same cloth, with a relaxed, community-driven atmosphere built to serve locals and travelers alike.

That makes Old Fort more than a dot on the map for AMB. After Hurricane Helene flooding, the town has become a place where resilience and reinvestment are part of the story, and a brewery with Boone roots, a Mills River precedent and a local ownership structure is well positioned to lean into that moment. For AMB, the move says the next real growth in WNC beer may still come from places that can turn a taproom into a destination.