Two men who started a critically acclaimed brewery in Western North Carolina are set to buy it back from Anheuser-Busch. Asheville natives and cousins Nathan Kelischek and Chris Zieber opened Appalachian Mountain Brewery or AMB, the 1st continuously operating brewery in Boone, back in 2011.
Two years later, they opened the original AMB taproom there. In 2021, AMB was purchased by Anheuser-Busch, but remained under the direction of the cousin duo. Now, they have reached an agreement to buy AMB back from Anheuser-Busch.
The two say, they want to shift to a more local focus and open a new AMB taproom location in the Henderson County town of Mills River. Kelischek and Zieber say they will continue to operate their original taproom location and that AMB products will still be available through their same retail partners.