We spoke with Andy & Lynn Mason from Lost Province Brewery in Boone. Andy is Director of Operations, and his wife Lynn is the CEO. From the basement to two locations in Boone, this couple has done it their way, and customers are more than OK with that!
What is the inspiration for the name of the brewery?
Andy – We wanted to find a name that was both unique and expressed the character of the area. I was reading a book on the history of Watauga County. I came across the phrase “the lost province of North Carolina.” In researching more about it, it seemed to be a wonderful name for the venture. It certainly expresses the character and the history of the area early on.
How long have you been brewing beer?
Andy – I brewed my first batch in 1989. I like to blame it all on Lynn because she bought me my first brewing equipment. My interest became a hobby, which became a passion, which became an obsession, which became a job.
What’s your current production?
Andy – Before COVID, it was just shy of 1,000. We would like to continue to do 1,000 at the original location downtown, the new brewery is capable of up to 3,600 barrels a year, and we’d like to reach that. It won’t happen immediately but we’ll ramp that up over the next few years. Once the new brewery is also running at maximum capacity, we should be at about 4,600 barrels.
What do you feel sets your brewery apart from other craft breweries?
Lynn – We pride ourselves with brewing traditional styles of beer with an innovative twist. We want a nice drinkable beer. We like to do a variety of styles as well, so that we’re not beholden to a particular style. I have to commend our brewing staff who brew very clean drinkable beers.
Andy – We do extensive research to make sure that we brew stylistic beers based on what our forebears intended them to be. The fun thing for me is that if you research any particular beer and go back to its roots, you’ll find out that they were made for very specific reasons. Sometimes it’s geopolitical, sometimes it’s chemistry, sometimes it’s just the unique history of the area. Going back and learning about it, then trying to recreate it, is one of the most fun things that I do. One of the mantras that we follow is: “What’s best for the beer?” We’re always trying to find a way to improve our product. That continuous improvement, I would say, sets us apart. When we first opened the brewery, we had beer, and it was okay, but I think we’ve seen a radical change of the quality and consistency of the product that we’ve been putting out over the last few years, and I’m very proud of what we do for that reason. I get up every day and I can’t wait to come in here, because I always feel I’m going to find out something new, or find a new way to do something, or just find that one little thing that makes our beer a touch better.
What’s your biggest seller currently?
Lynn- “Hipster Juice” is our New England-style IPA, but there’s one that’s going to be in competition with it named “What’s Up, Bro?” which is a New England-style brew that’s brewed with Sabro hops, and we’re getting great reviews on that.
Where do you get the inspiration for new beers?
Andy – It comes from a myriad of different sources. It can be just trying something new and fun; it could be from somebody reading something or tasting something that gives them an idea on a new formula that would be fun to try. We just purchased a one-barrel pilot system. The great thing about that is it can be used for product development for a host of different beers. It also gives us the opportunity to experiment.
Do you have anything coming out that readers will be excited to hear about?
Andy – We’re getting ready to do a sour Belgian-style ale with cherries. We have our seasonal pumpkin beers in the tank which are brewed from local heirloom pumpkins. We always wait until the local pumpkins are ready. We also have our Christmas beer which will come out around November 1.
Outside of the tap house, where can readers find your beer?
Andy – We’re marketing to a variety of bottle shops, restaurants and grocery stores. Our distribution radius at this point is about two hours. That goes from Boone, to Asheville, to Charlotte, then over to Greensboro. We’re in the western part of the state right now, but we’re expanding our production. As just a 10-barrel production brewery, we didn’t want to make promises we couldn’t keep, and we wanted to focus on supporting our vendors. With the new production space we have the capability to expand beyond our current footprint. The goal is to stay statewide.
Is there anything about the brewery that people would be surprised to know?
Lynn – We truly are a family owned and operated business. We’re fully independent. We have no investors. We’re not independently wealthy, but we do have good credit and work damn hard (laughs). We’re fortunate to have our adult children and their spouses involved with the venture. Everyone has a different skillset, so we complement what each other does. We actually all get along pretty well.
Andy – If you look at Sierra Nevada, one of their slogans is “family owned and argued over.” I would say that we’re family owned, and we don’t argue. We do go back and forth on things like any family but in the end everyone rises to the challenge and gets it done. We still all have dinner together every Sunday. We’re a pretty congenial bunch.
Lynn – We saw other craft breweries that had investors, and eventually sold out. We didn’t want the same path as Wicked Weed, for example. They’re owned by A&B. I like going to craft breweries that are independent. For me, it says that in this country you can still have a viable business and be an independent small business.
Is there anything that you wished I had asked you about that I didn’t?
Lynn – For one thing, there’s the food we have at the restaurant. Everything is made fresh. We source as much of the ingredients locally as possible. We have a great network of local farms. We have a big wood-fired oven so we serve a great Neapolitan pizza. We do a lot of seasonal specials and we have an extensive menu. We bake all of our bread in-house. We make a daily sourdough bread that’s cooked in the wood-fired oven; all of our bread for sandwiches is made that way. We even make our own ketchup and mustard. The only things we don’t make are cheese and cured meat. Everything else is made fresh in-house.
I would also say that any time we try something new on the brewery side, we also source as much as we can from local farms and local vendors. Our “Kiss My Grits” lager is made with Lilly Corn Grits from Alamance County here in North Carolina. We tested a variety of grits and it just so happens that the best ones came from that source. They had the best flavor for our particular beer.
We value our employees and have a wonderful workforce. We strive to pay everyone a living wage for their role and we’re adding health insurance for our full-time employees, as well as paid leave. We want to be a fun place to work where we also take care of each other. We also sponsor a different non-profit every month so the second Tuesday of every month is “Get Lost For a Cause.”
Appalachian State University has a wonderful Fermentation Science program and we have two people on staff right now that came out of that program. As another community involvement project, we donate a dollar out of every pint of “Bless Your Heart Blonde” that’s sold at our bar. The donations go back to the ASU program, into a fund that supports their laboratory science program, and some of the money goes back to a fund that promotes diversity in brewing. We also do a paid internship with the program. We feel like being successful is much more than the bottom line. Our local community helped to sustain us when we were shut down for two months last year, and we appreciate that and are always are looking for ways to give back to our community.
Lost Province Brewery has two locations in Boone. They have their original Downtown Boone Gastropub, and their new location Hardin Creek Taproom. The downtown location is at 130 N. Depot Street in Boone, and the second location is at 289 Daniel Boone Dr., Boone, NC 28607.
