USA, NC: Heinzelmannchen Brewery closing for good on July 13

After 13 years in business, a Sylva brewery is calling it quits. Heinzelmannchen Brewery will close for good at the end of the night on July 13, WLOS reported.

Dieter Kuhn and his wife Sheryl Rudd say it's been an awesome journey that's been both a blessing and a challenge. Kuhn was a pioneer, opening Heinzelmannchen as an early craft brewery west of Asheville.

“Where townspeople come and gather and be...and enjoy themselves and get the news and drink a beer… So, and we've accomplished that,” Kuhn said.

The couple says it's time to unwind a little for health reasons. “And part of those health issues were the stress we were under,” Rudd said.

Rudd will help develop new businesses. Kuhn will brew beer at a nearby but still unnamed brewery.

“I think we're going to create a Facebook page that is, "Where's Dieter Brewing,” Rudd said.
Kuhn pioneered the brewery trail west of Asheville.

“We looked to him and said, 'It is possible there is a market for it'," Clark Williams, who runs Frog Level Brewing Company in Waynesville, said.

Longtime customers rave about Kuhn’s recipes. “You can't beat the German beer,” Ian Beaver said.

This husband-wife team is proud to have located in Sylva. “This community from the day we opened our doors has been supportive,” Rudd said.

Customers know that's reciprocal. “They support a lot of charities in the community,” Tyler Watras said.

A new brewery is opening right down the block with input from Kuhn.

“He'd make suggestions and tell us we should contact these people, contact those people,” Corey Bryson said, who's opening Balsam Falls Brewing Company later this summer.

It’s just one of many brewery off-springs in the western counties inspired by Kuhn.

“It feels like a good father feels when a son does something right,” he said.

Now the couple says it’s time to hand off to the next generation.

“We're doing that in the best lens possible closing Heinzelmannchen and going on with our lives,” Kuhn said. But he said it’s “very hard.”

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