Interview with:
Corey Bryson
Owner and Master Brewer
Balsam Falls Brewing Company, Sylva NC
Conducted by Devon Nease
• How’s business this time of year?
Busier now that the spring session has started at WCU. January / February are usually slower than other months. Spring, summer, and fall are the busiest times if the year.
• Tell me how you got into brewing beer?
Started home-brewing as a hobby with a friend while living in Tampa Fla. Joined a home-brew club and their brewing competition team, then became a certified craft beer judge for the competitions. The Tampa Fla area had a very vibrant craft beer and brewing scene that was a lot of fun to be a part of.
• What made you decide to go all in and create Balsam Falls to brew beer for the public?
My wife, Laurie, and I wanted to move back to western North Carolina where I am originally from. We began investigating ways to make a good living in the Sylva area and recognized that western NC had a great craft beer community. At the same time, a few of my friends in Tampa opened a craft brewery and pub which was very interesting to me. I decided to create a business plan for Balsam Falls Brewing Company in Sylva and worked to get funding for about three years.
• What were some of the challenges you faced starting Balsam Falls?
Deciding whether to get interested investors or doing it on my own was the most challenging aspect early on. The advice I got was to do it on my own if I could afford to do it. Investors made things more complicated. Then I began exploring small business loans and non-profit lenders that could loan money based on the brewery property ownership.
• How have the experiences over your career influenced the way you run the brewery?
I had a great IT career in Fla, and was very process oriented with many different types of projects related to IT, computer hardware, and low voltage wiring. I learned trades like plumbing, electrical, carpentry, during the build process for Balsam Falls.
• How do you keep up with best practices and current events in your industry?
I am a member of the Brewers Association, the Sylva Chamber of Commerce, and the Main Street Sylva Association. I also keep close contact with other friends in the craft brew industry.
• Tell me what a typical week would be for you?
My primary focus is on the brewing process. I hired Brad to manage the upstairs taproom, and Laurie does the books for the business. A single batch of beer is a six-hour day, so I am downstairs brewing beer and cleaning the equipment 5-6 days a week.
• What kind of education and training would you recommend that a person have, to get into the brewing business?
A-B Tech has a great brewing school in Asheville that teaches everything from the brewing process to the business end of owning a brewery. There is another great school for brewing in Chicago that is well known, and then there are several schools in Germany. However, if someone has the opportunity to work full-time in a successful brewery, that is another way to get hands-on experience. Also, participating in hobbies like home-brewing and craft beer competitions is very helpful.
• What advice would you give to someone considering a career in the brewery business?
Get into the business before life gets too complicated, because the start-up and learning curves are not quick ones.
