When Brent Manning and Brian Simpson founded Riverbend Malt House in 2011, they like to joke that the only thing local about Asheville beer was the water. At the time, the hops tended to come from New Zealand, the barley from Germany or England and the yeast from California.
Fourteen years later, the founders of the first craft malthouse east of the Mississippi River, and third in the nation, is thriving after helping to bolster one of the nation’s most popular craft brewing scenes. From about a dozen breweries in 2011, Asheville now has about 40.
Business North Carolina’s contest judges were impressed with how Manning and Simpson sell to more than 300 customers and have ranked in the Inc. 5000 “Fastest Growing Private Companies in America” for three consecutive years. Revenue grew 34% in 2022, 21% in 2023 and was on pace for 18% growth this year, until an unexpected crisis struck.
For small businesses, the challenges never end. And Riverbend is facing a massive one, with Hurricane Helene knocking out about a quarter of their revenue. The decline reflects the storm’s impact on many brewers in the Asheville region, which bore the brunt of the disaster on Sept. 27. The properties of many brewers suffered significant flooding damage, while the lack of tourists and potable water is hampering efforts to rebound. Many brewers are paying from 10 cents to $1 per gallon for bottled water that can be used to brew
fresh beer.
During an early November interview, the founders emphasized the company’s resiliency and devotion to their 17 colleagues, who have continued to receive full pay. Both showed a steely confidence that Helene was just another obstacle in a successful journey. Their motivation is about creating living-wage jobs that include health insurance and a long-term horizon.
“If it weren’t for our employees, we wouldn’t be here,” says Simpson, who is the CEO. “Laying them off is not interesting to us at all. We need them here and we don’t want them having to get unemployment and not have health insurance. We want to do the right thing.”
Riverbend has helped employees and customers recover from the storm in varied ways. One example was when several staffers helped an Asheville brewery recover a walk-in cooler that contained more than 150 kegs of beer. It had floated a mile down the Swannonoa River, stopping near a fast-food restaurant.
A few days after the storm, Simpson says he experienced “the most Asheville thing I’ve seen since I moved here.” Walking down Haywood Road in storm-ravaged west Asheville, he saw a guy playing his guitar, while another fellow had set up a tent to provide mental health services, another guy was providing massages, and a brewpub was hosting some acoustic musicians.
As of mid-November, a few Asheville breweries had restarted production. “There’s a bunch of relief projects going on, and we’re trying to be supportive of them,” says Manning, who oversees sales. 
SPIRITED EXPANSION
While no one expected a disaster of Hurricane Helene’s magnitude, Riverbend made some business decisions that look astute given the storm’s impact. One was expanding beyond North Carolina; it now buys grain from farmers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, while it has customers as far away as California, Canada and Puerto Rico. Tar Heel customers make up half of revenue, with Charlotte and the Triangle as key markets.
Another important move was expanding into distilleries, which now make up more than 20% of business and could reach 50% someday, the founders say. One distiller customer often requires as much malt as four or five brewers, Manning notes.
Such diversification didn’t seem necessary a few years back when craft breweries were opening at a dizzying pace. Production at smaller brewers soared between 2010 and 2019. Since then, growth tapered as consumers’ demand for alternatives exploded. Manning jokes that eight friends gathered for a drink now typically choose eight different beverages, including one or two nonalcoholic ones.
Part of it relates to folks who were in their 20s and 30s at the height of the craft beer craze cutting back on their drinking as they age. There’s also a generational shift.
“Generations younger than us are drinking a little less, but they’re picking what they drink,” Manning says. “Cocktails play really well into that. If I’m going to have one beverage tonight, it’s going to be a high-end bourbon or some cocktail, and I’m going to spend some money on it.”
Nationally, craft brew volume sales declined by 2% in 2022 and 1% last year, with 405 breweries closing in 2023, according to the Brewer’s Association. Two of the five largest U.S. craft malt makers also closed.
Riverbend has bucked the trend, which Simpson and Manning credit to a focus on high-quality grains from a dozen or so farmers who share a commitment to excellence; an efficient manufacturing process; and solid customer service. The malters often pay twice as much for barley as grain that is produced for livestock feed, but it has to meet high standards.
The company stepped up its game in 2018 by expanding to a 70,000-square-foot facility in south Asheville, about five miles south of the Biltmore Estate. That necessitated building a sales staff and becoming more effective marketers.
“It was no longer this little precious jewel in Asheville,” says Manning. “We spent 2018 and up to the pandemic introducing ourselves to everyone.”
Having probably met with 1,000 brewers and distillers over the years, “now we know our audience. We spend more time building projects and collaborations, even full-blown events,” he adds.
ROOM FOR INNOVATION
Manning and Simpson both grew up in eastern North Carolina, coming from farming families in the Fayetteville and Tarboro areas, respectively. They had been co-workers at an environmental consulting firm with a shared love of the outdoors, sustainability and entrepreneurship, before launching Riverbend.
Malt, which is mainly barley, joins hops, water and yeast as the four prime ingredients in beer. The malting process involves germinating grain, then halting the process by drying. Enzymes develop and change the grains’ starch into types of sugar.
For distilleries, other grains tend to be key ingredients, but the main difference is timing. Brewers can whip up a solid batch within several weeks, while a good craft whiskey takes five or six years of incubation, Manning says.
“It’s a really interesting category because there is so much room for innovation,” he adds. He cites a recent project involving peach wood for a whiskey that won’t be released until 2030.
Perhaps because so much advance planning is required, distillers tend to be more secretive than brewers, who love to talk, Manning says. Fortunately for Riverbend, malts can make a big impact on taste and quality, he adds.
Simpson gives a nod to former CEO Scott Hickman for helping
the founders understand the potential for malt as the craft brewing market exploded. The former Sun Microsystems executive is now the board chair.
“He offers us an unbelievable amount of financial education,” Simpson says.
Looking ahead, Riverbend officials hope North Carolina economic development leaders will recognize the big opportunity presented by the craft brewing industry, even as its growth plateaus. “Look at what a small investment in the North Carolina wine industry did to build a tourism base across the North Carolina foothills,” Manning says.
“I think we could start a conversation that looks a lot like that and bring North Carolina up a level.” ■
