Hurricane Helene devastates Asheville's small beer breweries: 'It's quite heartbreaking.'

• Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, causing widespread damage.
• Local breweries, crucial to the economy, face significant losses and uncertain recovery timelines.
• Businesses and distributors are struggling to keep staff employed and rebuild one of NC's top industries.

Brian Fetting and Dan Juhnke welded every chair and table for their business, New Origin Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. They vaulted the ceilings, made a canning line, and designed the logo. After two years of work, they opened in the summer of 2021.

Last week, Hurricane Helene stripped away nearly everything. The building no longer exists, and kegs, bricks, and chairs sit scattered in a pile of mud. Their inventory is gone, and their staff are out of work.

"I found a chair about half a mile away, but I couldn't find my desk or any of the files," Fetting told Business Insider. "The propane tanker just went straight through our building and just disintegrated it."

New Origin Brewing is in one of the hardest hit cities by Hurricane Helene, despite its mountain location, 300 miles inland. The Category 4 hurricane struck Florida's Gulf Coast and Georgia on September 26 before reaching North Carolina.

The county manager of Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, reported on Monday that the county's death toll was 40, and hundreds remain missing. Cities and rural towns are facing a crisis as people lose access to power, healthcare, and food. Road closures also mean there is only one way in and out of the region.

As the community processes Helene's damage, the brewery industry is grappling with how to move forward. There are hundreds of breweries in western North Carolina, where beer and cider-making generate nearly a $1 billion economic output and thousands of jobs.

Now, hundreds of these workers are left scrambling to determine where their next paycheck will come from. Brewery owners aren't sure when they can produce their next batch, beer distributors are losing their supply chain, and bars nationwide can't restock Asheville-area brands.

The New Origin co-owners have tried to salvage what they can of the business, and Fetting said he's also dealing with severe damage to his house. Based on initial conversations, he thinks they would be lucky to get $200,000 from insurance — nowhere near the $600,000 loan they took out to build the brewery. He's fled to Minnesota with his family while Juhnke takes stock of the New Origin damage.

"The carnage is so bad you can't really access it," Fetting said, adding: "The hurricane took our business, and now the banks might take our homes."

Small breweries lead western North Carolina's economy

Before the storm, Mike Semenec filled one of the cold liquor tanks at Asheville's DSSOLVR Brewery with water. Little did he know that the tank — typically used to hold liquid in the beer-making process — would soon be used to distribute over 1,000 gallons of drinking water to residents affected by Helene.

DSSOLVR's storefront had minimal water damage during the storm but remains without power and running water. Until the tap turns back on, Semenec said the business can't produce and package beer products or clean its equipment. Debris and flood waters in the area have forced him to temporarily relocate to Tampa with his family.

Semenec estimates that the business will lose at least $20,000 each week it's closed — and that doesn't include extra money that staff might make through tips. DSSOLVR sent some inventory to the Durham location that wasn't as severely impacted.

Semenec said he's concerned about how DSSOLVR's closure will impact his 20-member staff. He is helping his employees apply for unemployment so they can continue paying their bills. Helene wiped out the brewery's most lucrative fall season.

"It's quite heartbreaking, devastating to see that," Semenec said.

The storm has had a similar ripple effect across the industry. Western North Carolina's breweries generated a $935 million economic contribution between 2014 and 2021, and local breweries support over 3,000 jobs — per an Asheville Metro Area Breweries Contribution Analysis published in the fall of 2021. This also contributes to local and state tax revenue and millions of dollars in annual earnings.

Like Semenec, Harrison Fahrer — cofounder of Cellarest Beer Cellar in Asheville — said his brewery won't be able to function long-term without running water. His building is largely intact, and they got power back a few days ago.

Fahrer told BI that losing a few days of business, operating on limited hours for the time being, and losing half of their wholesale accounts is "a huge hit to finances."

Tim Kent, executive director of the North Carolina Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, told BI that the hurricane damage has also "paralyzed" distributors.

"They're not going to be able to operate anytime soon," Kent said.

Without active beer manufacturers, open highways to transport goods, or reliable cell service to communicate between businesses, he said most major distributors cannot function. Most bars and grocery stores, where products would be sold, are also closed.

Brewery owners look toward recovery after Hurricane Helene

It could take months for full power and water access to be restored, leaving the future of western North Carolina's brewery industry uncertain. For most of the small breweries dotting the French Broad River and the Blue Ridge Mountains, the devastation from Hurricane Helene can't just be measured in dollars lost.

For Hi-Wire Brewing, the flooding means each bar that sells its beer will soon run out of product. Hi-Wire has locations in other cities and states, but its main brewery in Asheville is largely underwater, per owner Bryna Frosaker. The flooding means that much of its ingredients, 80% of its finished beer, and 100% of its packaging inventory are destroyed.

"Our main facility where we receive ingredients and ship final product out was totally decimated," owner Adam Charnack said. "I don't even know what that path to rebuild or not rebuild even looks like at this point."

Days after Helene hit Asheville, Charnack and Frosaker said they were still trying to confirm the safety of all their employees. They have begun to research their insurance and "solve basic problems," Frosaker said. The pair feel like the livelihood they worked so hard to build was swept away.

There's a long road ahead, but Charnack said Hi-Wire Brewery hasn't lost hope. They are working in a friend's office building, with limited internet and no running water.

"We'd love to let everybody know that we're doing everything we can to get back to as normal operations as quickly as possible," Frosaker said, as rain pit-pattered on the windows behind him. "Have patience and grace."

Fetting — the co-owner of New Origin Brewing — said he hasn't given up either. On Tuesday, he did payroll with the last few dollars he had. Fetting is doing his best to provide for his staff as long as he can.

"They're really, really good people," he said. "They're all safe, but now they don't have any shifts to work. They relied on us."

Are you a business owner or resident impacted by Hurricane Helene? Are you open to sharing your story with a reporter? If so, reach out to allisonkelly@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@insider.com.