Beer News

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Sierra Nevada says no to Tennessee plant

ALCOA, Tenn. — Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has decided against locating a brewery in Alcoa, even after state lawmakers changed a law to entice the venture to east Tennessee, a Blount County economic development executive says.

A spokesman for the Blount Partnership said today that the Chico-based company notified them that the site in Alcoa is no longer being considered, the Associated Press reported.

Blount Partnership spokesman Jeff Muir said the family-owned brewing company told the partnership that differences from California's climate were a factor in the decision.

As an enticement for the $200 million plant and some 100 jobs, Tennessee lawmakers had passed a measure allowing on-site sales of high-alcohol beer and sampling products at a taproom and restaurant.

Sierra Nevada said last spring that it would like to expand somewhere east of the Mississippi River, and hoped to have a decision by the end of summer. A Blount County official earlier told the newspaper Blount Today that Alcoa and Roanoke, Va., where the two finalists for the plant. Sierra Nevada officials have not commented on particular sites.