In an exciting development for an already robust craft beer community, The CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective will launch an innovative new concept in Asheville, NC. The new restaurant and brewpub, dubbed “The CANarchy Collaboratory,” will celebrate experimentation and collaboration in beer, food and culture. The concept will land in the Lexington Avenue Brewery (aka LAB) space in March 2019.
As the name implies, The Collaboratory will specialize in cutting-edge flavors and brewing methods; as well as creating limited-edition, small-batch collab beers from leading craft breweries both in Asheville and throughout the country. The space will also feature projects between top chefs, artists and musicians across the Asheville community. CANarchy plans to invest in significant renovations to the current layout that will allow for increased seating and brewing capacity.
The owner of Lexington Avenue Brewery, Mike Healy said, “After nine years at LAB and with a new baby at home, I’m looking for a change. I believe I’m leaving LAB in good hands with CANarchy – they have experience running successful brewpubs; plus, they’ll put time and resources into creating exciting new brews and experiences for craft beer drinkers in Asheville.”
Matt Fraser, President of CANarchy, said, “We feel that collaboration and innovation are essential to the future of the craft movement. CANarchy was founded as a collaboration between like-minded brewers dedicated to bringing high-quality, innovative flavors to drinkers in the name of craft beer. So collaboration is very much in our DNA.”
CANarchy is currently comprised of seven leading craft breweries, including Oskar Blues Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing Company, Squatters Craft Beers, Wasatch Brewery, Deep Ellum Brewing Company and Three Weavers Brewing Company.
“It’s gonna be f*cking rad,” said Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis. “We opened our Brevard brewery back in 2012 and were immediately embraced by the great people of Western North Carolina. We look forward to planting more roots in this beautiful place and giving back by further servicing the local community.”
From a brewing perspective, The Collaboratory will be led by Wayne Wambles of Cigar City Brewing. Known and respected as one of the most progressive brewers in the world, Wambles looks forward to The Collaboratory as the next challenge in his esteemed career. “Having brewed well over one hundred and fifty collaborations in my career, I know the value that those projects bring to both drinkers and brewers. It’s a mutual exploration of culture, raw materials and process that exceeds the act of simply breaking bread with friends and colleagues. The Collaboratory will be a platform for innovation through collaboration, whether local, national or international; plus, it will allow us to innovate with our own in-house brands and projects among breweries within CANarchy,” said Wambles.
But he doesn’t expect it to be easy. “It’s one thing to create one-off collaborations in your free time between day-to-day brewing operations; but to do so frequently, constantly offering new creations through collaboration and in-house innovation, will be a rewarding challenge. As brewers, we live for the opportunity to push the boundaries and discover progressive approaches to beer that we hope will excite today’s beer enthusiasts.”
The Collaboratory will open in March 2019.
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