Strike 2 for East Coast Sierra Nevada

We learned this week that Sierra Nevada Brewing had ruled out the Virginia site under consideration. Some have speculated that the East Coast expansion was off the table. More evidence to support that sad conclusion has arrived. From knoxvillebiz.com:

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is not coming to Blount County, according to the Blount Partnership.

The Chico, Calif,. company notified the Blount Partnership this weekend that they would not build a brewery on propetry adjacent to the Pellissippi Place research and development park in Alcoa."

According to a press release from the partnership, issues this morning, Blount County has fallen out of contention for the brewery.

"Blount County is no longer under consideration for the Sierra Nevada project," the release states. "We appreciate the interest the brewing company had in operating a plant in Blount County and understand their reasons for not locating here. The relationships established between Sierra Nevada and the state of Tennessee and county and city officials remain strong. The Blount Partnership will continue to work all business leads to bring more companies and jobs to Blount County."

The specific reasons for the brewery's decision were not released.

There continues to be speculation that Sierra Nevada is considering Asheville, NC due to the area's "progressiveness" being attractive to the California company. Personally I'm not putting much stock in that. Feel free to prove me wrong Sierra Nevada.

See "Sierra Nevada not building brewery in Blount County".