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Even if 2026 only brings a little more predictability, it'll be welcomed with open arms by regional player in the Southeast and original Asheville brewer Highland. Last year was marked by recovery from painful events for the brewery's Western NC community and its founding family alike. In all, it "did better than the market, but we were not up," prexy/CEO Leah Wong Ashburn told CBN, finishing the yr with volume down low-to-mid singles. Getting back on its feet after the devastation of Hurricane Helene in Sep 2024, Highland felt the same difficulties in distribution as most craft brewers last yr. But it had a "record-breaking" year on-site, Leah told us, "so grateful" for the way the community rallied around it. Recall, disruption to co's biz in late 2024 was severe. The brewery didn't have water, let alone beer for two months. Strain continued into early 2025, but by late last yr, co "got back to pretty much where we wanted to be," Leah explained. Going against a tuff 13-wk period at the end of 2024, distributed on-premise volume was back up strong double-digits and off-premise retail trends turned positive too. Early this yr, Highland's enjoying a boost from a program with a large off-prem club store, but is down slightly without it, Leah shared. It's still "probably ahead of the industry, but not where we want to be," she commented.Building Lower Price Tier with Pair of Daycation Brands Spotting broader concerns about affordability and beer's diminished pricing power writ large, Leah and co considered ways to offer value in a different way than they had in the past. Highland's portfolio long maintained a single line price. And it doesn't "really deviate from that unless we have an LTO," Leah said. It knew that to properly play at a lower price point, it was "better to have two or three things" to "create a tier." But "as a small company," that was "very hard for us to do."In recent yrs it built its Daycation brand fam of 2 sessionable, easy-drinking brands, an IPA and Gold (a kolsch), that only appear in 12 pks in most of co's footprint. "With the two of them together," co "felt like we could" lower the price of the Daycation family to a new tier below the core lineup, Leah told us. It's "tough, but we can do it," she assured. Figuring out the logistics and getting the network on board took a long time and a lot of work, but the new pricing will be hitting the mkt soon.Maintaining Tight Footprint, Brushing Up Packaging, Bringing Back Scotty Highland has no intention of expanding away from its tight footprint of mkts within a day's travel of Asheville, reaching NC, SC, TN and GA, Leah confirmed. And it's not turning to big new launches for much incremental growth this yr, planning just one new beer. But co "refreshed a whole bunch of packaging," she pointed out. That includes longtime flagship Gaelic Ale, still the #2 amber/red ale in co's 4-state footprint. New Gaelic Ale artwork pays homage to original packaging and once again features kilt-wearing, beer-hoisting Scottish Highlander named Scotty. The 90s are back in style, after all.Huge On-Site Year in 2025 Followed by Big-Time Developments at Brewery Total beer output and the distributed biz may face headwinds, "but we're ok" because of how strong Highland's on-site biz has become, Leah told us. Highland "did really well on site" last year (like "really well," she emphasized). "The community really responded to us last year after Helene," she acknowledged with characteristic gratitude. But that could be at least in part because of how the co responded to the community during the crisis itself, recall.A year and more removed, the co continued to raise recovery funds, launching Highland Haze IPA on draft last yr and raising another $13K for impacted hospitality workers. That brand already grew to co's #2 draft brand and cans debuted last fall. Leah and Highland's work for WNC was recognized by the White House in the immediate aftermath of the storm and last mo she was named to NC Gov Stein's WNC Recovery committee.Throughout Asheville, "tourism is largely back," Leah reported. But visitors are "doing different things," she said, leaning away from the kinds of organized tours that were very common pre-storm and instead looking to experience "what it's like to be here," where locals eat and drink. That's benefited Highland, which built up its brewery to a destination for relaxation and recreation over its 20 yrs at its hilltop locale.And 2026 brings co's "biggest on-site development year" there ever. It'll debut its own pizza program, doing food in-house on site for the first time, in addition to ongoing string of food trucks that serve sprawling outdoor space that hosts music, disc-golf and regulation beach volleyball courts. Food will bring new service models and more space in form of "double-decker porches" out front, Leah shared, where co may experiment with 21+ only spaces (as its lawn has grown very popular for families with kids and dogs). And that ain't all, as co will welcome two new tenants to the building: Cultivate Climbing, a climbing gym, and Black Dome Mountain Sports, an outdoor recreation retail shop.Leveraging Local Affinity and Make the Most of Big Moments These on-site developments continue to buttress Highland's biz as it works to turn that energy into off-site momentum as well. And while national attention turns to big events that could add incremental drinking occasions, Asheville has its own special moments that Highland hopes to leverage for new oppys to showcase its brand and host more folks, Leah noted. Major local tourist attraction, the Biltmore, will host its first PGA tour event in over 80 yrs this Sep, driving increased attention and traffic to the area over the next 4 yrs (at least). And in Aug, Asheville hosts the finance track of the G20 Summit, bringing intl finance and bank leaders to the small city nestled in the Appalachians. Those events and ongoing on-site investment could make it another record-breaking yr for Highland. And if they help turn around off-site trends, that's even better.

Investing in On-Site Biz After Record Yr, Highland Tries to Address Affordability with Daycation

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