I've been thinking a lot about Hurricane Helene's consequences for this region. It's the biggest defining event of my lifetime, for sure. The same goes for most of Western North Carolina. There always will be before Helene and after Helene.

Both of my regional beer history books are now a bit dated, although I tried to cover a good amount of set history. However, history is rarely set, as I talk about in the first chapter of WNC Beer, after I uncovered new information on early Asheville breweries.

Now there will be post-Helene WNC beer history. I have a section in my WNC book titled "Gone but not Forgotten," where I reminisce about closed breweries. That list has grown since 2018, when the book was published, for many reasons, including Helene. It likely will continue to do so. Some breweries that physically survived the hurricane will slowly dry up from the decrease in tourism coupled with an increase in the "sober curious" trend. Breweries everywhere, but especially here, are pivoting--adding food, events, live music, N/A beverages, and more to pull in customers. That said, new breweries have opened in WNC, and I think, will continue to do so, albeit at a much slower pace than in the 2010s.

I don't write much about the beer scene anymore. There's less interest in the subject, and my writing interests also have pivoted. But I hope someone is taking notes.