Blazing a path into local beer culture

Black Mountain Ale Trail offers a taste of Old Fort and the Swannanoa Valley

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
November 7, 2021

Siler Sloan, the Ale Blazer for the Swannanoa Valley’s new brewery tour, the Black Mountain Ale Trail, will take guests behind the scenes into the local craft beer culture. Photo by Fred McCormick

High atop the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the Swannanoa Valley, a growing number of local breweries have been cooking up creative and tasty beer recipes for more than a decade. In recent years, the regional enthusiasm for locally crafted brews has flowed down the mountain to Old Fort, where a budding beer culture has found fertile ground to support roots in the shadows of the Pisgah National Forest.

A new guided tour is tapping into the flavors and stories of the local craft beer scene. 

The Black Mountain Ale Trail will launch Sunday, Nov. 7, beginning at Black Mountain Brewing and ending at Hillman Beer in Old Fort. The tour will offer guests an inside look at three area breweries, while exploring the growing beer scene and history of eastern Buncombe and western McDowell Counties. 

“We’ll tell the stories of each brewery,” said Siler Sloan, the guiding Ale Blazer for Black Mountain Ale Trail. “We’ll start at the beginning with background on each owner and brewer, and talk about current trends and the creative ways these breweries are responding to them.”

The tour will visit Black Mountain Brewing, Lookout Brewing and Hillman, where participants who are 21 years old and over will receive samples of selected beers. 

The Ale Trail was founded by Black Mountain business owner John Richardson, according to operations manager Liz Carleton. The guided beer tour is the first of its kind in the Swannanoa Valley. 

“We started exploring this idea a while back, and it began with a lot of research and building a solid foundation,” Carleton said. “Then we were introduced to Siler.”

Sloan is a native of Western North Carolina with a passion for local brews.

“I love beer,” he said. “I grew up around it, and the beer industry here is something I’ve always been interested in getting into.”

Preparing for the launch of the Black Mountain Ale Trail was a perfect opportunity for Sloan to learn about the emerging beer culture in the Swannanoa Valley and Old Fort. 

“I had the benefit of using Black Mountain Brewing as a resource,” Sloan said. “I was able to talk to (Bhramari Brewing Co. founder and owner) Gary Sernack, who is the brewer there, about the beer they make and the process behind it.”

The guide also spent time familiarizing himself with the story of Lookout Brewing, which was established in Black Mountain in 2013. Sloan also focused his attention on Hillman, which opened its second location in Old Fort in the summer of 2020. 

“The brewers at every location have been extraordinarily helpful, sharing insight into how they approach their craft,” he said. “That’s something I’ve really appreciated, and I think it will definitely be reflected in the tour.”

Transportation for the guided tours will be provided by the Black Mountain Ale Trail bus, which seats 12 passengers. Following its first two stops in Black Mountain, the mini-bus will take guests on a scenic ride down Mill Creek Road to Old Fort. 

Along the way, the tour will include information about the history of the area.

“I spent quite a bit of time in the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center researching the local history,” Sloan said. “I didn’t go in with a particularly narrow focus, and instead tried to develop a wide understanding of the people and places that have played significant roles here.”

The tour will provide information on historical sites along the way, including Andrew’s Geyser and the Mill Creek community. 

“A lot of local people know the history of the Swannanoa Valley, but they may not be familiar with exactly where many of these places are,” Sloan said. “Guests who are visiting from out of town can learn more about the people and events that impacted the region.”

The Black Mountain Ale Trail hosts three-hour tours from 3 - 6 p.m. every Thursday and Friday, and from 1 - 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $55 for guests who will sample beer, and $40 for participants who choose not to drink, or children ages 12 and up. 

For more information about the Ale Trail, or to book a tour, visit https://www.blkmtnaletrail.com/.