Zillicoah Beer Company: From Recovery to Resurgence

Driving into Zillicoah, we knew we had entered a different kind of Asheville brewery. The surroundings were scenic and rural, with just enough industrial roughness around the edges to remind us that this was a working place. A gravel parking lot opened onto a broad patio, trees framed the property, and somewhere beyond it all was the French Broad River. For Rebecca, there was an unexpected flash of childhood recognition: the place brought back the feeling of an old lakeside clubhouse where her family had held reunions, a little weathered, a little informal, spacious enough for people to scatter and gather again.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon, and Zillicoah had already settled into the easy rhythm of the weekend ahead. People were lingering over beer and food, conversations drifted across the patio, and the river kept moving with the steady indifference of a river that has seen everything before. Inside, the brewery felt both industrial and warm. Stainless-steel fermentation vessels occuppied the center of the room, softened by long wooden communal tables, plants and warm hanging lights. The effect was spacious without being impersonal, and it felt like a place built for staying awhile—which was convenient, because we had nowhere else we needed to be.

The Basics

Location: 870 Riverside Drive, Woodfin, NC 28804

Parking: Large gravel parking area on site

Website: zillicoahbeer.com

Social media: Facebook, Instagram

Vibe/Atmosphere: Outdoorsy, spacious, communal, organic and inviting, with extensive outdoor seating along the French Broad River

Beers We Tried: Pils, Octoberfest Märzen, Kellerpils, Helles (Open Fermented), Maple Smoked Helles and Austrian Gold

Important NC Beer Explorer Tip: When consuming alcohol, always have a designated driver. Be safe out there, friends! Follow these simple tips for safer consumption.

Dogs First. Obviously.

We had arrived a little ahead of our appointment with Jeremy Chassner, one of Zillicoah's owners. We spotted him sitting quietly at a corner table, finishing some lunch, so we introduced ourselves and explained that we were early and in no hurry. He seemed grateful for the few minutes to collect himself, which gave us time to turn our attention to more pressing matters. There were dogs.

Choco, a chocolate Lab, and Otis, a yellow Lab mix, were spending the afternoon behind a low barrier in the taproom. When the room fills up, the dogs apparently retreat to their protected area, but they remain very much part of the social scene, visible to customers and available for an ample supply of petting whenever circumstances permit. Rebecca considered this a perfectly reasonable arrangement, and the dogs seemed to agree.

Highly Recommended

Whenever we told local brewers around Raleigh-Durham that we were heading to Asheville, they had ideas about which breweries we shouldn't miss. Some names came up once or twice. Zillicoah Beer Company came up again and again. That wasn't surprising. Since opening in 2017, Zillicoah has developed a reputation for traditional lagers and farmhouse ales, particularly the kind of carefully made, fermentation-forward beers that reward attention without demanding it. Its setting doesn't hurt, either: four acres along the French Broad River, just outside Asheville in Woodfin. From the beginning, the brewery was conceived as a place where beer, nature and social gathering could coexist.

Then came Hurricane Helene.

The floodwaters that swept through Western North Carolina in September 2024 destroyed Zillicoah's brewery completely. The owners made the difficult decision to rebuild in the same place, beside the river that had always been central to their identity. By the time we arrived nearly two years later, the word recovery seemed almost too small for what had happened. What we found instead was something quieter and more interesting: a brewery that had come back to life.

Perhaps that is why Zillicoah kept finding its way onto our Asheville itinerary. The North Carolina brewing community had rallied around the brewery in the aftermath of the storm, raising money, brewing collaboration beers and contributing equipment, supplies and labor. According to Imbibe, Zillicoah raised approximately $120,000 through a GoFundMe campaign, while breweries around the region and beyond donated portions of their sales and held fundraisers of their own. The generosity went well beyond writing a check; other brewers helped with equipment, yeast, water and even the decidedly unglamorous work of cleaning mud-covered kegs. That sort of thing is one of the reasons we keep doing this. The beer matters, of course, but so do the people who make it.

The only reminders of Helene we saw during our visit were these "rescued" but unused brewing tanks on display in the taproom.

And then there was lunch.

Master BBQ

We have had mixed experiences with food trucks over the years, but Master BBQ was a revelation. The Filipino food truck parked at Zillicoah serves up the sort of food that makes you stop talking for a minute. Our barbecue skewers arrived lacquered and charred at the edges, accompanied by crisp lumpia, bright yellow rice and a little cup of cucumber pickles. We followed that with banana turons—sweet glazed plantain rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds—and found ourselves asking the obvious question: Why have we never eaten Filipino barbecue before?

Choco and Otis are Zillicoah's handsome and friendly brewery dogs.

Both the beers and the taproom at Zillicoah Beer Co. invite you linger as long as possible.

The Brewery Comes Back

Jeremy eventually gave us a quick look behind the scenes, pointing out some of the equipment that had become especially meaningful in the brewery's reconstruction. Among the things he showed us was an open-tank fermenter housed in a carefully controlled clean room, protected by HEPA filtration. For a brewery whose identity has always centered on fermentation, it seemed like more than a piece of equipment. It was a reminder that the things that make Zillicoah Zillicoah had not been abandoned in the rebuilding. If anything, they had been reaffirmed.

But rebuilding a brewery is one thing. Rebuilding your life after a disaster is another.

Don't think of Master BBQ as a food truck; think of it as an onsite caterer with incredible food you can enjoy al fresco.

There are enough pictures out there of the devastation the river brought to Asheville. We're choosing instead to showcase its beauty and serenity.

The Story Jeremy Told Us

At some point during our conversation, the subject turned to Hurricane Helene, and Jeremy told us that he and his wife had a baby who was only a few months old when the storm struck. They had arranged for both grandmothers to come into town and help with the baby while the new parents took a rare getaway together in New York. His wife had an uneasy feeling before they left, but eager for a little time together, they went anyway. Then Helene arrived, and suddenly communication with Western North Carolina disappeared.

News from home was slow and fragmented, and there was no easy way back into the mountains. Two new parents, hundreds of miles away from their infant son, were trying to find a way home. They managed to get an emergency flight to Charlotte and rented a car, and acting on information a friend had found on Reddit, they made their way toward Asheville, uncertain of what they would find when they arrived. Eventually, Jeremy's mother-in-law came out of the house to meet them, and Jeremy was reunited with his son. Only afterward did he learn that his own mother had been hospitalized after falling and breaking her wrist.

Everyone was alive. Everyone was going to be all right. The brewery, meanwhile, had been devastated. But standing there with Jeremy, it was easy to understand that the brewery was not the first thing on his mind when he thought about those days. It was his family, and that distinction matters, because Zillicoah's story isn't really a story about a building that was destroyed and rebuilt. Buildings can be replaced. Tanks can be replaced. Kegs can be scrubbed clean. What can't be replaced is the person waiting for you at home.

Back to the Beer

Eventually, our formal conversation ended, and Jeremy did something we particularly appreciated: he picked out a flight of beers for us and then went back to his day. No hovering, no sales pitch, no expectation that we would perform our appreciation for him. He trusted the beer to speak for itself, and we were happy to give it our full attention.

The flight included Pils, Octoberfest Märzen, Kellerpils, Helles, Maple Smoked Helles and Austrian Gold, and the selection made one thing immediately apparent: Zillicoah is deeply interested in classic beer styles, but it isn't interested in making them anonymously. The Pils and Kellerpils carried the crispness and precision we expected from the styles, while the Helles offered a softer, rounder expression. The Octoberfest brought a deeper malt character, and the Maple Smoked Helles moved into more unusual territory without losing its underlying identity. Austrian Gold rounded out the flight with another expression of the brewery's affection for traditional lager styles.

What struck us most was the sense of place. Not terroir in the strict winemaking sense, perhaps, but something close to it: an understanding that a beer can reflect the sensibility of the people who make it and the place in which they make it. Zillicoah's beer doesn't seem particularly interested in shouting. It wants you to sit down, taste it, think about it, have another sip, and maybe look out at the river.

It doesn't get better than drinking impeccable beers in a relaxing setting.

The End of the Road

Zillicoah was our last brewery visit in Asheville. By then, we had been traveling for days, crossing neighborhoods and districts, climbing hills, following winding roads, meeting brewers and owners, taking photographs, asking questions, drinking beer and trying to absorb as much of the city as we could. Now, we were ready to go home. And somehow, Zillicoah was exactly where we needed to end.

We had come to Zillicoah because other brewers told us it mattered. We left understanding why—not simply because of the beers, although the beers are very good, and not simply because of the beautiful riverside setting, although that certainly helps. We took with us the feeling of the place, and because there was something deeply satisfying about seeing a brewery that had endured so much — and returned to the ordinary, beautiful work of being a brewery again.

NCBE's Beer Notes - Zillicoah Beer Co.

• Helles Lager, 4.7% ABV*

  • Appearance: generous lacy white head, brilliant, yellow

  • Nose: lime, herbal, biscuity malt

  • Taste: biscuit, malt, slightly bitter. crisp

  • Mouthfeel: light body, high carbonation

  • Finish: dry, lightly bitter, malt

  • Overall: a faithful, delicious rendering of the style

• Pils, Northern German Style, 5.5% ABV

  • Appearance: straw, white lacy foam

  • Nose: faint, floral, cracker

  • Flavor: bitter snap, white bread, flour, lightly hoppy, hint of grapefruit peel

  • Mouthfeel: light body, medium carbonation

  • Finish: bittery, hint of pine

• Oktoberfest, 5.9% ABV*

  • Appearance: dark Amber, clear, light lacey cream foam

  • Nose: caramel malt, slight coffee note, light sweetness

  • Flavor: graham cracker, caramel, malt, baking spice, light smoke

  • Mouthfeel: medium body, medium carbonation

  • Finish: long, balance between sweet and bitter

  • Overall: excellent, crushable

• Austrian Gold Vienna Lager, 5.4% ABV

  • Appearance: dark gold, long lasting beige foam

  • Nose: toast, honey

  • Taste: toast, honey, herbal, grassy, earthy, light smoke

  • Mouthfeel: light, medium carbonation

  • Finish: bittery, light spruce

• Maple (Smoked Helles), 4.0% ABV

  • Appearance: cream-colored head, gold, brilliant

  • Nose: smoke, maple

  • Taste: smoke, maple, wood, orange, bready malt

  • Mouthfeel: medium body, light carbonation

  • Finish: smokey and bitter, long finish

• Kellerpils, 4.9% ABV*

  • Appearance: slightly cloudy, yellow, white lacy foam

  • Nose: biscuit, light floral

  • Taste: lemon-lime, bread, bitter snap

  • Mouthfeel: creamy, medium light carbonation

  • Finish: short, citrusy

  • Overall: very elegant

*NCBE Two mugs up!

What do you think about Zillicoah Beer Co.?