More Than a Brewery: Trailside Brewing with David Schnitzer

Welcome To Exploration Local

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast designed to share stories about the people who shape the places we explore, the brands and ideas that get us out there, and the experiences that fuel a spirit of adventure. I'm Mike Andris, host of Exploration Local, and I believe there's always something new to discover and new stories to be told, whether it's around the corner or miles from home. I encourage you to wander far but explore local. Let's go. David and Colleen Schnitzer had an idea for a place where people could come together over good beer, good food, and good company. For David, that idea grew out of more than two decades working in the summer camp world, where he learned the value of creating experiences that bring people together. Colleen came from a similar place with a background in youth ministry and a continued passion for creating outdoor experiences for young people. That shared love of community eventually led them to Trailside Brewing. What started as a brewery has continued to evolve. A place for a beer after a ride on the Acousta Trail, live music, a meal with friends, family events, and all the little moments that turn a business into part of a community. In my conversation with David, we talk about where that idea came from, how Trailside has changed since they took it on, and what he and Colleen are trying to create here in Hendersonville. This is a story of Trailside Brewing and why for David, it's about a lot more than beer. So let's get into the story behind Trailside Brewing.

Camp Roots And Side Hustles

SPEAKER_01 1:29

My camp career started at uh in college as uh YMCA camp counselor at YMCA Camp High Harbor. And uh that's where I met my wife. So we met there once I graduated University of Georgia, uh, went on to full time in camp and stayed there for three or four years at YMCA Camp High Harbor, and then went to Camp Glisten in Delonega, Georgia for um, gosh, I guess nine or ten years there, and then moved up here. So we've we've been in camp for 26, 27 years, something crazy like that.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

So and then an opportunity came up for trailside brewing, and obviously that's what we're talking about here today. We're gonna unpack that plus a few other surprises down the road. But what was the vision for that? I know reading your website, you say you know there were this was always a dream of ours.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So um camp is is the best job in the world. Uh uh it is the most amazing. It and if you can do that well, and I think we did, if you can do that well, you can do anything because as a camp director, you're you're HR director, you're a medical director, you're a foods director, you're logistics, your risk management, everything. And and with the family and all that kind of stuff, it's really hard to do more than like 25 for us years in camping. I I'm also a serial entrepreneur at the same time. So whenever I uh yes, we did camp, but I always like to start things on the side. So my partner and I started Appalachian Coffee Company, which I don't know if you knew that or not.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

I did not know that. That was y'all.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

That was us, and so it was supposed to be like a little side gig. I was just we weren't even gonna have coffee shops. We were just gonna bring a product to market. We wanted to get it to stores, and which we did. We actually our first customer was Mass Journal Store. We branded the product, we came up with a storyline, we um knew that we wanted organic and fair trade, and and uh we had pretty good design. And I got uh I remember I bought like 500 pounds of coffee and had it in my living room. And my wife was like, What are you doing? Great air freshener. Yeah, it's like we're gonna go sell this. And so I had to figure out how to sell it, you know. And uh I put up a case and I brought it to Mass Journal store and I said, Hey, you need to buy this coffee. And I said, No, we don't do that. And I was like, You're a general store. It's like the first people who sold coffee. What are you talking about? And I remember I set the case. I came back the next day and I set the case of coffee on the guy's desk with an invoice and it was free. I was like, keep it, sell it if it sells through, you know, order it. And he called the next day. He's like, Man, we I told you we don't want this. I was like, just keep it and just sell it. And they did, and they ordered for like six months. Amazing. But I used that to go to other stores, outfitters, because we just wanted to get coffee in every single outfitter up and down the Appalachian Trail. That's what we're it was like it was a branded coffee for uh the outdoors folks. And I said, Well, Mass is carrying it. Well, Mass is carrying it, you know, they didn't want to carry it to begin with, but they did, and but just use leveraging the fact that Mass bought it. Um we got in a bunch, and then from there we we started shops and it was crazy. It was just like a side gig that turned into something more.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Now, did you open that first brick and mortar right there on Church Street? I did. That was that was an incredible little store.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

It was awesome. It was a heartbreaker when they like, oh actually, the the owner of the property walked through our drive-thru, opened the drive-thru windows, like, hey, y'all gotta get out of here. We're gonna tear this whole thing down in six weeks. And we're like, what are you talking about? So he had bought the whole block there. You know, there was that old antique store there as well, and they just bulldozed everything. And I think they were gonna build like a hotel or something, and it fell through, and now it's still it's a parking lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Well, it's not even a parking lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

It's not even a parking lot, it's still just empty. So but we learned a lot from that, and that forced us to go into another location for and so you know, it all works out in the end.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

But uh, now did you it was that you when you opened up the location closer to uh Laurel Park, right on the trail?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yep. And then we had a uh we had a shop in Brevard on Brevard College. Brevard College called us and said, Hey, you know how to do this well. We need something for our students. Can you create a coffee shop on campus? We did, and it was successful in two years. They bought it from us, which was fine. So through that whole thing, my partner said, uh, hey, let's start a brewery in Georgia. And I was like, Okay. Uh, because we had made a uh a home batch of beer out of our coffee, and it was actually pretty good. He's like, we should start a brewery. And I was like, okay, so we I had the coffee shops here, and he started the brewery down in uh Georgia, in Lawrenceville, Georgia, slow pour brewing, amazing brewery. The biggest thing that I guess they learned starting that brewery was we need some help. And so through that, they bought a brewery in Stone Mountain, Georgia. And I think what they were doing was really buying the brewer. He was such a great brewer.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

And then after that, we started, it was like, well, let's start a brewery here in in in Georgia or in North Carolina.

Taking The Leap Into Trailside

SPEAKER_01 6:23

And so we started trailside together. Um, and that came after, you know, right after COVID. You know, as a camp director, all camps in the country were just shut down for a at least a year and a half, you know. And it was, we looked, my wife and I, she worked at United Methodist Church as a youth director and family's pastor at the time. And uh we're like, well, if we're ever gonna make a change, COVID has given us this opportunity. And uh we said, yeah, let's do it. Let's go start our own brewery. Started it up. Gosh, what year and a half, two years later, we ended up buying out our partners, and now we we own it.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So So at the time, did you all purchase the Linux station or piece of that?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Or we don't own Linux Station. Uh, we are tenants of Linux Station. Actually, our dear friends. There's three couples that actually own that are our landlords essentially, but also dear friends. So the Savagios, the Bradshaws, and the Riddles, they all they own that property and they're just really, really good landlords. I mean, really great. They're great partners to have and um have supported us and trusted us. I mean, it was a big deal. I mean, they put a lot of money into that facility, and to trust us to be the first tenant was really, really grateful for that. And uh I think you know, we're we want to honor them by doing having a really good business too. And they're they're good for us, and I think we're good for them, so it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah. Yeah. And uh so there's a third leg to the stool that I love to kind of talk about, and then maybe we'll unpack it at the end. But you also have an outdoor adventure company that you run as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Like I said, the the best thing in the world to to be a part of is camp. And I don't think I'll ever not be a part of something like that. Um, you know, like I said, my wife has been serving the church for 20 years. Uh, you know, I went through seminary as well. Uh the local church was not my calling to be there, but I wanted to be in that type of ministry, and that's why camp was so big. And we just couldn't leave camp altogether. So uh 25 years ago, 26 years ago, I was had a side company of running trips to Alaska primarily. I was a Knowles grad through Alaska, uh in Alaska, did a semester out there, and uh I was like, hey, I'm gonna we're I'm gonna run trips. And I had somehow, as a 24-year-old, convinced like 15 parents to send their kids with me as a 24-year-old to to Alaska. It was crazy. The first trip, my my wife, we were dating, the second trip, the second summer we're out there, we were engaged in the third trip. We were we were married running these trips in um you know, six weeks in a bus in Alaska is like a dream of mine. I just loved it. Uh, after doing that for several years, my wife was like, uh, you know, I want a baby, I want a home. And so um, man. Yeah. So we stopped running the trips as an individual company and went into residential camping. And then that's where our career of residential camping uh came in. And then uh at, you know, right before COVID started, we had started this adventure travel company again called Creative for Adventures. So yeah, we're running each summer we take kids to Alaska, Hawaii, the Tetons, um, Colorado, uh, North Carolina. Next year, we just added a new trip to um just south of Charleston, South Carolina on the coast. So uh we do two things where camps, uh there's camps in Texas and Georgia, you know, all over that hire us to run the adventure travel program for their camp.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

And so, like there's a camp that we're running five of their adventure trips next next summer. And so that's kind of where we used to just put all of our focus in running our own individual camps, but recruiting that one kid at a time is really tough. It's hard. It's a lot of effort, a lot of energy, a lot of money. But now we're recruiting like 60 kids at a time when we go to each camp or 80 kids at a time when we go to camps. And so um makes it a little bit easier to plan for the summer.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

So we're doing both. We're running trips uh all summer for these institutions, and then we're running our own uh our own trips that we're running this summer. We have one that's going spinning a week in Alaska, and then you fly from Alaska to Hawaii, and so you got a week in Hawaii. So we're gonna do both in one, and then a couple other Hawaii trips that we're running.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So man, I'm almost afraid to ask what else is underneath that lid of yours and uh things you're gonna be starting up because it sounds like there could be new ventures throughout your life, man.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Oh, yeah. Oh, we have a I'm a realtor as well. So I'm with looking glass really. Those guys are awesome. No kidding. It it's just a great tool. I got it during COVID. You know, I COVID was wild timed like to sit for that long. You know, I was like, man, what could I do? And I was like, I'm gonna get my real estate license, you know, and then so because you could do it online then. And I just sat in my house and for a month and got my real estate license. And most of its referrals, because I meet so many people coming into the brewery, or parents, or people wanting to come to Hendersonville, and it's like, hey, we've our team is awesome. Like um, really, the looking glass team is amazing, folks. And and I just get to refer them and funnel them to them, and then they take they take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

So that's what I use it for mostly. Wow. So that adds a fourth element to this. So we've got camps, then we have an adventure company. Obviously, we're talking about the brewery and realtor. Um there's

Turning A Brewery Into Community

SPEAKER_00 11:41

a common theme that kind of would seem to run through a lot of this. Yeah. And I have some ideas of what those threads may be, but what what would you say those threads are?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Well, it's all uh an adventure-based, outdoor-based kind of a culture. You know, Appalachian Coffee Company, Trailside Brewing, Trailside Table, Created for Adventure. That's the name of our adventure travel. I love that too.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

That we are created for adventure.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, that's right. And um, so it's just kind of core to our family's culture. Our boys have lived outside more than we've probably ruined them in some ways because they have traveled more than any kid that I know. I'm grateful for that, and it's also struggled for that a little bit. But uh, they're like, oh, we're not going to Hawaii this year. I'm like, no, dude, you're not. What are you talking about? So uh, but um, but yeah, it's it's the way we've chosen to do life, you know, invest in in kids in the outdoors in a faith-based environment, and we're trying to bring that to the brewery. The fact that we own and run a brewery is nonsense. It's crazy, but it's a great tool to just care for people. I mean, it really is. I mean, it is we don't run the brewery as a brewery, it's a community center. All the activities that we're running there, the people that come in there. We have people telling us stuff that uh you you wouldn't believe. They're like, hey, I I had you know this illness or my dog died or whatever, and being able to come here and be treated the way we were treated by your staff and just the feel here and the culture here just really helped me heal. I'm like, that is what we wanted. We we hope that that would be the case. Yeah. Um, you know, we've got we we show outdoor movies, you know, Warren Miller films, mountain bike films. We're gonna host Warren Miller again this year. Yeah, we're doing it again this year. We um, you know, the Hendersonville Run Club meets every Thursday, the fly fishing guides, uh guys, uh uh fly tying club meets every Wednesday. Everybody that comes in there is just like really interesting, fun, active people. And that's just it's really it's fun to be a part of.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Well, on the outside looking in and being a participant in that, I definitely when I ask you that question, you know, what is that common thread? The adventure piece is is definitely in you. But that community piece is what I feel when you go in there. I know that's very important to you all as well. And the fact that you're right on the Acusta Trail, I would imagine, just elevates that to a level that a lot of people might not be able to you couldn't strike, you couldn't set out to build something like this. Well, I I shouldn't say that. You can. You struck out to build something, but the trail just augments all this experience.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah. And we knew we thought the trail was coming earlier. I mean, we start we finished and opened the brewery, and it suddenly became quite clear the trail wasn't going to open for two years. I was like, oh, our business model had us really relying on this trail, you know. And so we were like, we got to get people here, and like we better be a desirable place. We better give reason uh for people to come here. Uh and I think we did. I mean, we were standing by ourselves without the trail. We didn't even need it to be a successful business, and we were really grateful for that. But once the trail opened, it just helped it even more.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah. Yeah. And of course, you have a few other I mean, our people who are local to here, they're gonna know Acosta Market, they're gonna know Trailside Brewing. But for people who aren't, I mean, that little location is just off of downst or Main Street, not too far away from downtown uh Hendersonville. It's a great location, but even I mean, just a primo location when you talk about where you are. Like you are probably besides the trailhead, you are the staple right now for and there's a lot of other businesses that are supporting it up and down the road, but you're like literally right there. You park, get on the trail.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yep. I had a great compliment from one of the city um officials uh about a year after we opened, he was like, Man, you are exactly what we were hoping was gonna happen when this, you know, when we're envisioning this trail. This is what we wanted for the community. And that was a great compliment. That felt really good. I was like, uh you know, thank you for that. You didn't have to say that, but um but it was great. So yeah. So and we got free parking. That alone is crazy, lots of it. Uh, and to be able to have that, it's very accessible for for people to get to us. It's very accessible. Not just the relative ease of parking, but there's like the seating or just the welcome that you get, or uh it's like, yeah, if I'm gonna go somewhere, why wouldn't I go to Trailside Brewing? Yeah, not that there's uh anything wrong with any of the other breweries. Got a lot of great breweries in town, but I think we're the best, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah. Well, it's I it definitely is our family's go-to. And like you said, there are a lot of breweries around town. There's breweries in other little towns next to us, but this one is almost like a destination brewery, to be honest with you. At least that's what it feels like.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

It feels good for you to say that. But that's what we want. We want it to be an experience. You can you can buy beer at the grocery store much cheaper, right? But that's not the only thing you're beering. We have great beer, but that's not the only reason why people are coming there. They're they're coming for something bigger, something better, something more special, and and we just so happen to have great beer at the same time.

Brewing Talent And Growing Pains

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Yeah, you do. Now, I mentioned or you mentioned earlier that you would you had a brew, you had a beer that you brewed, yeah, and it was from the coffee, the the origins of that. So, what was your experience in brewing beer and how did you who did you go to to kind of help you elevate that?

SPEAKER_01 17:15

So I only have home brewing experience. I have no idea what it means to scale brewing. Yeah, I I don't, I'm not the brewer in any way, shape, or form. So when we started Trailside, we remember we already had these two breweries in Georgia. We relied heavily on that head brewer. Uh we we advertised for the job, uh, we did a nationwide search. We found uh Bubba, who's our brewer here now, who um had been brewing in uh Colorado. And um he fortunately we were able to grab him. He came in here and he kind of uh worked underneath our head other head brewer of the whole company at the time. Okay. Really kind of got him started and up and running on um on our production. After a year and a half, Bubba was like totally on his own doing everything. And you know, I'm so hands off with the brewing. I if I had to go back in there, I would mess it up. This guy, he knows what he's doing, very creative. He the the amount of measurements that he takes on each batch is scientist it's like scientific. I mean, it's it's he's really, really intentional on all of the the markers when it comes into creating a new beer. So grateful to have him as a part of the team.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

That's Bubba.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, it's Bubba. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

And does Bubba have a team of brewers that work alongside him? I don't know how that works. It's just him. Just him, my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah. So uh so if you go to the brewery now, you're gonna see four of our own beers on tap. Usually we have 12 to 14 to 16 of our own beers on tap. This summer we sold more beer than we've ever sold before. Incredible. And we sold out. And so that's a problem. It was a good problem, but it was a problem. And uh it got to the point where they're drinking it so fast we couldn't make it fast enough. And part of that was well, he's buying himself, but also more than anything, the equipment is old. Old equipment. It's 32 years old, it's not very efficient. So July, this July or June, we purchased all new equipment. And it is being manufactured right now. It'll be delivered in November, and uh, we will decommission this current equipment that we have and then reinstall or install this new equipment, and it will make them much more efficient, make quantities and all that kind of stuff. So hopefully we can um maintain and people come in and see our brands up there and not uh other brands. But it's been fun because you know, we've been able to buy some local beers of other breweries to have on tap for us. Nice. You know, we carry Sierra Nevada, uh Burning Blush. Burning Blush beer is really good. Those guys can make some really, really good. Yeah, yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Oh, that's good. Now, who are some of the other people that are just kind of the key players around there to kind of give them a shout out to? Because we know Bubba.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, Bubba, and then uh our general manager, honestly, this guy is he runs it. He runs everything over there. So we rely heavily on Dylan, you know, he's doing all the staffing, scheduling, just making sure we're up and running. So he this guy runs it. He makes he, you know, I was gone in the Tetons this year for two weeks. I was in Arizona for a week. I, you know, I'm running trips with these kids all summer. Dylan just he runs the show, he knows how to do it. So uh if I I can't uh thank him enough. Him and Bubba enough are like, I know our beer's gonna be good and I know we're gonna be set. So I I I know that Dylan runs it as if it's his own, and uh, and that means a lot. So and then we've got um our uh trailside table is the restaurant that we started. It's a separate company, but we run it in there. And there's a young lady named Amber who kind of oversees that as well and making sure that the kitchen and the front house people work together. Yeah, our our staff is just they're they're the best. Yeah, they're the best.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah, they're just good people. It's just nice to go to like meetings and just like be around them. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Yeah, yeah. Whenever you're in town, man.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah, whenever I'm in town, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Not on the trail. Yeah. So

A 1915 Mill Reclaimed Again

SPEAKER_00 21:23

talk a little bit about how you took this building from a 1915, I think that's 1915 hosiery mill, way back when. Right. And now it's kind of been repurposed. And I know you don't own it, you're a tenant of it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah, uh, it's been a a a bunch of different things in between. So uh where what we call the grove, which is our our cocktail bar and our event space where you order food, I think it was 15 or 13, it was the hosiery. And then it was a box company, a paper box company. I guess all the paper that was being made out of bravard would get packaged there at that building. And then sometime later where the Actually, tap room is it was built and it's been everything. I mean, most recently, right before us, it was a company that made all the stock material for picture frames. So if you go to a frame shop and you see like the 300 different patterns on the wall, uh, they made all the material for the picture picture frames. And then before you know in the 80s, it was uh somebody brought in a photo and said, Hey man, check this out. And it was uh there was like 500 fish tanks in these buildings set up, and they bred goldfish to sell to pet stores.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

And then before that, it was like the third or fourth Lowe's ever, Lowe's hardware store. So it it's been a lot of different things, and I'm grateful to be a part of that history now with it. And the fact that we we are reclaiming something, and we didn't have to tear it down. Like every coffee shop that we've been in, every brewery that we've started, it's a reclaimed old building, every one. It's just there's something cool to have that history. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah, yeah. Pivoting back a little bit to the owners, you said you came from uh you had there is a lineage to brewing and to brewing. And then I read somewhere though that in 2025, did you buy this away from that group?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Um, yes. So uh we were you know, we were all partners in a a couple these are you know Marty, who's m one of my best friends, uh is my best friend. We, you know, we grew up together, we're in kindergarten together, preschool together, you know, all the way through. We're like, hey, let's start a business together. Everybody's like, that's a terrible idea. Not with friends or family. Yeah, and uh and it was a great idea, you know, because mostly because we had no idea what we were doing, you know, and we're like figuring out. After we opened up Trailside, they also opened up another brewery in Winder, Georgia called Finished Goods. It's a monster beautiful brewery. And now there's four breweries and some coffee shops and everything's all over the place. Like, wait a minute, we gotta, you know, let's consolidate some stuff. And so I bought them out of of uh their shares of the um or their percentages of the of trail side. We just kind of just kind of on our own. And it was just uh it was a a blessing to be able to do that. Um and I think for them and for us to be able to do that. And it just also made the most sense. You know, we're over state lines, you have you have two different, you have two different sets of rules and regulations with ABC laws and everything, and you know, so it was like uh this just makes the most sense if we just keep all the breweries in Georgia under one umbrella and the one in North Carolina under it, under its umbrella.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

So it sounds like being friends and having that whole history with them that you guys were really aligned when it came to what you were doing at Trailside. But when you bought it, did anything change or did you no, just kind of still stay the same in this?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

The only thing that changed was stuff on paper. Okay. That was it, nothing else changed. Same, same staff, same people. We the only thing I guess the biggest change is that we started the restaurant right away. So my wife and I would so we're we owned that and we just started it out of the brewery.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

So, and which we needed to do. You had to have food there. Food trucks just wasn't working. You know, they show up like 80% of the time. Oh, no kidding. Yeah. You know, and you don't have quality control over that, or how are they treating the customer? I 99% of the food trucks are amazing and awesome, but it's um, you know, the ones that you know, when you when it's a Friday and you have no food, it's an issue. That's tough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

So Yeah. And you've kind of created that expectation or level of excellence, maybe I should say. And so not being able to have the direct control over that, now you do the food, the quality, the timing, the and it's very quick to get your food, you're not standing in line for hours, kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

So we had to operate in a way where you had uh maybe 10 customers an hour or 150 an hour. It had to be the same menu and you had to be able to have the same times. And so there are some things that we we do that we probably wouldn't do if it was just a sit-down dinner, you know. And but there's some things that we just won't uh compromise and making sure it's still good quality, quality food. But uh the technology uh that we we have in getting food out just and communicating with the kitchen and taking orders, communicating with the customer, the order's ready. Uh there's a lot of intentional planning on that to make sure we could serve really good food fast.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

And it is really, really good food. Yeah. And you do get it quickly, too. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah.

Food, Music, And Weekly Rituals

SPEAKER_00 26:29

So we've talked a little bit about, or you have a little bit about laying out some of the community hub piece. So you have, you know, tie and fly, you know, fly fish tying, you have, you know, bluegrass music that's there, you have Irish music, which is amazing. Yeah. So cool. Um, and then you have the run club that that that runs out of there.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

We have the board game club that shows up on Mondays now. That's okay. These this young couple, and this is all on them, but that we just kind of now support them in marketing and getting the word out, but they're new to town. They're like, hey, we we we want to start a board game club. And now there's like 30 people come Monday nights and they'll play games together. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Um, yeah, there's uh uh Tuesdays we have the round robin group um that comes in, and they this is an ongoing group of people that um have been playing music together, I think it's like 20 years at different locations, and now they show up at the brewery every Tuesday. And it is a place for people who have never played a song in front of somebody.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

No way.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

That they nurture them and they they give them feedback, or um and you can see these people develop becoming a really great musician over a period of a year because the first time they played and and sung in front of somebody, it's a very supportive group of of musicians. It's it's it's a really neat community. Uh so you got to try. That's Tuesday nights they come out. And then the bluegrass jams are Wednesday nights, and Thursday we have trivia and the run club. Friday, Saturday, Sunday is all live music. Um, so there is something going on all the time. All the time there, which is it's truly great.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

We love it. Yeah. So talk a little bit about how the impact now of Acousta. I mean, you alluded to it, and I think common sense kind of leads us there, but but just the difference that it's made or that you've seen your business now that the Acousta is at least that section's open.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Um it it has definitely helped us and hurt us all in the same way. So uh I would say like, well, one of the things that allowed us to do is open up at lunch. All right. Before the trail, it just didn't really make sense to try to open earlier because we used to open at four, and now we do open earlier. Um and so it's driven it's driven traffic earlier in the days on both weekends and weekdays. But there are points during the the week where you you come into the parking lot, the parking lot's full, and uh and there's like four people inside the brewery because everybody's on the trail. So they're using our parking to get in there and it's like, well, how many of these people would have would we have had more of customers if we weren't so associated with the trail? I don't know the answer to that. I do know that overall the trail is dramatically improved business. So you got to take the good with the bad on that. Um I'm sure people are riding or walking or running and then coming and getting a beer or getting something to eat. I'm sure that's happening. So but parking's a problem. I mean, we we we have a lot of parking, but we don't have enough, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Um that lot that's right across the street that's with landscaping stuff and that is owned by the trail. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

So the trail actually owns that lot. And they're um the tra the trail is just a funny, funny thing. It's it's been I mean, they've been trying to build this thing for 20 years, yeah. Yeah, and it's still not done because they don't have the amenities done yet, and they're funding for that. In 2029, we think all the amenities and everything will be complete. I think I'm saying that right. And part of that is this parking lot right across from our beer garden, it may be like 30 or 40 spots over there, which will be just a gift. So either all the trail people can just park in that, or maybe there's times in the the week where those are also customer parking, you know, we don't know. Um, but just knowing that more parking is coming is really exciting. Yeah, exciting for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

So the converse of that in terms of how you benefit the Acousta Trail, what are your thoughts on a place like Trailside, even the Acousta market, helping to give the trail an identity or to build that identity. Does you think that's happening too?

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Uh for sure, for sure. If if you think of the uh swamp rabbit trail.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yes, that's where my head is.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Um nobody ever really wanted to go to Traveler's Rest. I hate hopefully that's not offensive to anybody living in the trailer.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

I know what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Um, but now you've got these lovely businesses all up and down that. Right. And uh it's just the trail, the rails to trail is not a new thing. I mean, it's been out there for years. It is an economic driver. I mean, it it's just giving people an opportunity to to experience their Saturdays or, you know, the afternoons differently in their own community, uh, being very active and walking from business to business. And I think that we definitely are a draw to the trail. I think it's a both, uh a both and. Yeah. You know, we support each other. It's a uh it's a very good relationship.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. And I th I I would imagine that things will pop up in, you know, in time, but there's a lot of residential stuff between where you are and actually your former location. Now it's something, streams, coffee. Um and then beyond that, it's a lot of residential stuff too. So on on the ends, you have the space for business like yours to kind of draw, which which once we get that 19 miles in 2029, they're gonna have the whole thing finished.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

It's gonna be 19 miles out there. It's amazing. Yeah. And there's gonna be a lot more opportunities for people to put in uh Airbnbs or other small businesses, and it's gonna be huge. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah.

Community Impact And Being Neighbors

SPEAKER_00 32:10

David, let's talk a little bit about the maybe some of the stories, the community stories that have kind of come out of what you're building and what you all are doing there. I'm we we went through kind of the calendar list items, but there's there's a lot of people and stories behind each of those events that you host.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Aaron Powell I think uh some of the the big ones for me that I'm glad to be a part of is you know, Conserving Carolina, they they don't do it now. I think they just kind of may have outgrown their space or we outgrew them or whatever, but um, you know, they are having monthly meetings where they bring in environmentalists to give updates on water or air or whatever you know, land use is. Uh they chose us to be kind of their home base for that community outreach, and and that was really cool to be a part of. I'd like to actually partner with them in greater ways in the future. We've talked been talking to them about that. But uh I I don't know. I mean, the there's there's all kinds of just individual stories on just being able to get out of their house and walk to the brewery or um the trail more specifically, hey, I get to ride my bike to work and to the brewery, you know. It's just becoming a part of the community. It's just becoming like a daily part of their lives, you know, in some way, shape, or form. And it's I think it's adding to the quality of life of just living, certainly in that part of town, but uh uh to the individuals and residents. And I think overall it's been very, very positive. There I fully understand that we have uh this brewery in the neighborhood, you know, uh it is zoned industrial. Somebody could have put anything in there, any type of manufacturing that you could dream of would have been allowed there. And it and we were able to get it and uh be a uh a place for the community. But there are times when it is louder than what the local community is used to. And we try to honor that. You know, we're allowed to play music till 11 outside every night if we wanted to, but we made the decision, like, you know what, these, you know, they're within the the two blocks around us, they didn't hear anything, but now they hear something on a Friday night. And so we've made that choice to shut our music down at nine o'clock, you know, Fridays and Saturdays. We could play longer, it'd probably be a better business decision if we did, but just being a good community. We're just trying to do that. And and and some people understand that and some people don't, but um, you know, we do have the right to run this business and and um play music and be that entertainment hub. And and so it's been a change for people who are our neighbors, uh, but we are trying to be the best neighbor possible. And uh hopefully us being there has helped their property values, you know, you know, and um so it's not all bad, but I understand it's change and change is hard. We're also trying to be the best possible neighbor. Um and you know, it's I'm just glad it's not a big manufacturing plant that's right there, which it could have been.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Yeah, it's bizarre. What do you think is happening there that has nothing to do with beer whatsoever?

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Oh gosh. Hopefully more so, you know. Uh beer is just uh, oh, I'm glad there's good beer here. People are uh mm just meeting new friends. Like the these clubs, the fly fishing club, the running club, the game club, are building rel uh uh trivia. There are people who have met each other and now a part of their lives that they other else wouldn't have known. And it's great. I love seeing that. Uh we've had several weddings there. People have actually gotten married there, which is mind-blowing to me. You know, and um they just love the way it feels, and it's it's bringing the community together, and that's that's what we had hoped it would be. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

How about just a little bit of a mention to your neighbors right there? You've got acoustic market, yes, uh, and then the the whole deli that's then there as well.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

So uh uh Robert and Emily Gunn own the Acousta Market. And uh actually, as a realtor, uh they were wanting to buy a house. I think they were wanting to buy a house or an Airbnb. I can't remember. And I was driving around and we were building a brewery at the time, and and Robert goes, Yeah, we just wanted to kind of stone our start our own grocery store. I think he was in that business or something and food distribution or whatever. And I was like, Are you serious? You want to? And I drove while we're looking at houses, I drove them over to the property and said, Y'all need to open this grocery store here. And, you know, years later they did.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

So did they have like have any reference to the swamp rabbit trail at all?

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Um, I yes, yes. They were in conversation with those guys a lot.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Um, and and they were great. The swamp ragged rabbit market, uh, I think that's their name, really were open to them and talking and bouncing ideas off each other. Emily worked for a brewery in Asheville, one of the uh, I think Wicked Weed, I think I'm saying that correctly, or Sierra Nevada, I can't remember. She was working for one of them, so they kind of had that customer service uh experience as well. And they what they've made over there is just beautiful. I don't know if you've been in there, but the food is phenomenal. It's just a great market and um really sweet people, sweet family. Their plate is full. I thought we had full plates with everything we're doing, but our kids are grown now, or we have two seniors in high school now, they're about to graduate. But um, man, um they're they got a just a bunch of little kids running around at the same time run these businesses, and uh, but they're doing a great job. So you gotta check them out. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

Yeah, that's uh my girls, that is their absolute favorite place to stop. And I can't be on that trail without them running into somebody that they know sitting right outside. So yeah, that's really good. And you mentioned earlier about people being able to kind of bike and walk and kind of meet up and and and have community. And my son and his wife, they live on the more to the downtown side. So and we can leave from right up here. We'll just kind of put up um in horseshoe and ride our bikes down. And it's nice to be able to to just meet along the trail and have a place to break bread, have a beer. Yeah, and you also have mixed drinks too, so that's a nice job. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yeah, they're they're actually really good. Uh I'm it's it's a debate sometimes. Well, well, first of all, it's like, okay, I'm not gonna have a beer. And then you see a friend, they're like, hey, you want to sit and have a beer? I'm like, yes, yes, I do. You know, so um, and it's like, well, now it's like, do I get a do I get a mixed drink? Or do I get a beer? It's it's just a lot of fun to um it's it's crazy. Again, it's crazy that we this is where we find ourselves. I love it. I love it. Um, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

So

Why Hendersonville Feels Like Home

SPEAKER_00 38:41

all these adventures up in Alaska, all this stuff out west. Why here? Like of all the places you could have moved, why Hendersonville, North Carolina?

SPEAKER_01 38:51

We just got back from Sedona Monday, uh week uh week ago. We were in Sedona because we had never been. We're like, hey, let's go to Sedona, let's take the boy. We're trying to eek out every weekend with our boys because their seniors are about to head off. It's the prettiest place. I don't know if you've ever been out there. I've never been to Sedona. I've heard unbelievable. It's so pretty. And every time we go to these different places, we're like, hey, could we live here? Could we live here? That was a great place to visit, but man, it is just not home, you know. Hendersonville, number one's the South. I don't think I'll ever leave the South. There's something special about living here. And the the Appalachians, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Smokies, it's a comfortable wilderness. It feels home. It's something different and softer and sweeter about this region than the Rockies or or Alaska or even Hawaii. I mean, those are great places to visit, but it's not it's not home. So just the culture of the people here and just the the environment, I don't think we'll ever leave.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I hear that a lot from people that and even Carson that you met today. And, you know, Andrew, her fiance, they love being out there, but this place has their heart. And so now Andrew's from Alabama, but now North Carolina has quickly become you know kind of his heart. And Carson knows that she's a, you know, she was raised in Appalachia, so she knows that this is where she ultimately wants to be. But she's out there sewing her oats. And it's really interesting that I usually hear people say that. I love going out, yeah, but I love this place. There's only one person that I have ever talked to, and I'm sure they're out there that said, I started here and because he started here in our area. I met him on the the gondola um at uh going to Mary or um at Winter Park. Yeah. Him saying, you know, this is the place I've made. So I've transitioned from the the the Appalachian Mountains to the Rockies, but I don't hear that a lot. I hear people say, I've done I've done that.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

And want to come back.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

But I want to I want to I just wonder what my roots to be.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Uh you know, we have seasons, and that's some phenomenal having seasons here. Um and they're great. So the falls are great, the springs are great, you know, and the winters are not super, super harsh. But I have heard so many people um who grew up here and left, they said, I I spent 18 years trying to figure out how to leave Hendersonville, and then I spent the rest of my life trying to figure out how to get back, you know. Yeah, that means a lot of retired folks coming here and loving it. And yeah, yeah.

What’s Next For Trailside

SPEAKER_00 41:16

I love that. So well, what have we not asked you about trailside that you would just love for people to know? And it doesn't really necessarily have to be about trailside, maybe it's your adventure company, maybe um, but but I would love to kind of know if there's anything that we've kind of missed on this with Trailside.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

No, um you know, I'm always trying to look for the what what are we gonna add? You know, uh if it I I am a firm believer, if you're not growing your dying, uh I don't know if it's that extreme in reality, but I kind of feel it. So we always want to be the best that we could possibly be. And um uh so there's a couple of things come down the pipe with Trailside. Starting the idea of distribution, you know, getting our beer into grocery stores or restaurants. So that's not a done deal yet, but uh we're we're looking to to do that. We're also partnering with a musician uh this uh fall and winter, and we're going to this I won't say this individual's name, but we're gonna uh turn the grove into a a listening room starting at like 7:30, 8 o'clock a couple nights a week. Really? And and the person that is kind of leading this with us will have access to really great, great musicians, like people that you would know that you would listen to every day.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

So they're coming, they would come to this listening room, almost like a MTV unplug kind of a feel.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Right, right. So the hope is that we're we can get artists that do have a big band or they've just had huge music careers, and maybe they're kind of on the the back side of that, and um you get to listen to some of your favorite artists, but just them and a guitar. And the idea is that um they get to tell the story about that song, you know, they're their favorite song that they've heard their whole lives. And um and it's a intimate space, like 175 seats, and and you know, this musician, and um they'll be able to, you know, just them and a guitar and tell the story about that song and play it. So so that's coming slowly this um fall uh winter, fall and winter, and then it will uh hopefully get more and more artists throughout the year. So we're really excited about that. Um it'll be those will be ticketed events. We rarely have ticketed events, but these will have to be ticketed events because of the yeah, the space and um the level of talent that we're bringing in. Um it's gonna be pricey for uh well, we won't be able to afford them, so the the ticket sales will have to afford them. So yeah, yeah. I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

Yeah. What else? Any new beers?

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Oh, we always have new beers coming. Um I I guess this new equipment is the biggest thing. It's really gonna help us serve our customers. I mean, right now, if you go in there again, like I said, there's four of our beers on tap. That's all we got. Twelve of somebody else's. And part of that's really great, but you know, we have a lot of good beer that people are They're like, where's this being? You know, they're they're they're mad when they come, they're actually really frustrated. But we're gonna remedy that. Um we won't catch up though. You know, I mean our our equipment won't be installed until the end of December, and then we gotta start making our beer, and that beer won't be ready until the end of February. By then all the beer starts getting consumed faster. Just catch we won't catch up through the summer, so we probably won't be caught up until this time next year. Okay. You know, but um but we're gonna get there eventually. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

Very nice.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

And then you have, of course, we talked about the Warren Miller film that will come up, which is a huge for all the ski.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

And that place was packed out by the holy moly. People who like Warren Miller Warren Miller films are like my kind of people. They're the best, man. I love that crowd. They hoot and holler and watch that. I mean, it's they're they're just getting psyched up for the new ski season coming in. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

And I've been there for the uh Friends of DuPont Forest, have held meetings there. Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Friends of Acousta, Friends of DuPont. Yeah, I mean, you name it. They they we've had those those group those groups, and we just allow them to use the space. We don't charge them anything, they just come in and um use this use the space. And it's great. I'm just glad that they're there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

What about other kind of film festivals? I feel like I've seen things advertised.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

I haven't attended, but we we do an adventure film series uh throughout the fall and spring where you know it's world renowned climbing climbers. We have a women's uh adventure film, mountain bike films, fly fishing films, and so those interested folks just come in. And so you have all these like-minded adventurers in that particular sport come in and hanging out, and they all share stories and watch the the the best of the best cinematography of these types of adventures. And we're able to offer these cool things because of community, because of relationships. You know, you're never gonna grow on your own. It's it's a it's a community deal. And I've learned that a long time ago. Um, that uh the more people you bring on board, just the the better it all is. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here, we've been talking for nearly an hour now, and uh, there's been only a couple of times that we've mentioned the actual beer. In fact, we haven't even named the name of your beer, yeah. And yet we've talked a lot about community and what your facility and your investors and your wife that you all have done to kind of create community for this area. Yeah, I think it's huge. Man, I'm sure that there's a lot of other things on the horizon for you. Your entrepreneurial spirit, there's a lot of things you're thinking of. But as a resident, as somebody who is a patron of Trailside, I really think what you've created is pretty amazing. I'm sure you hear that a lot, but it's just it it has drawn, it draws people together to connect. And I mean, if it's just been, you know, a long day and uh daughter just picked her up from the airport and you're coming in for just one beer or hanging out, having a meal, entire families kind of coming together, watching the film festivals, riding the bike and stopping it. We've done all of those things. Yeah. And none of it would be possible if it weren't for what you're you've built there at Trailside Brewing Company.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Thank you. It's a it's a team effort for sure. For sure it's a team effort, and um I'm just glad to be part of it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

Appreciate you unpacking all this, David.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Yeah, man, thank you. It's been fun.

Final Reflections And Closing

SPEAKER_00 47:09

What David and his family have created at Trailside is a place where people come together, a place connected to the trail, to music, to the outdoors, and to the community around it. We talked for a while in this episode, and I think we mentioned the beer just a few times. Instead, we talked about camps, adventure, music, kids, community, the acoustic trail, and what it means to create a place that people actually want to be a part of. And I think that tells you a lot about what Trailside is really about. David, thanks for letting me unpack the story behind Trailside Brewing. I so enjoyed this conversation. And if you haven't been there, take a ride down the trail, stop in, grab something to eat, listen to some music, and see what happens. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share Exploration Local with someone who loves the outdoors as much as you do. You can also follow Exploration Local on Instagram and Facebook, and if you have an idea for a future episode or know a story that deserves to be told, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at mike at explorationlocal.com. Until next time, I encourage you to wander far but explore local.