Brewery announces indefinite closure as ongoing threat brings fewer

A brewery that closed because of Hurricane Helene delayed a reopening and laid off dozens of employees.

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What’s happening?

One of Wicked Weed Brewing’s three locations in and around Asheville, North Carolina, will be closed indefinitely, the Citizen Times reported. The Funkatorium tap room and adjoining Cultura restaurant shut their doors for three weeks after the devastating natural disaster, but the brewery was set to reopen Nov. 18, and employees had returned to part-time work to prepare.

They were called to a meeting Nov. 1 and told their positions had been eliminated, according to the newspaper. Some were offered severance packages and continued health care coverage for six months. About 30-40 people lost their jobs, prep cook Conor Tormey said. They can reapply when the location reopens.

The city is without water and will be for at least another month after the hurricane ruined swaths of the Southeast and much of North Carolina and Tennessee.

The company reopened its flagship Brew Pub on Oct. 25 and Wicked Weed West in Candler on Oct. 31. Funkatorium began operating in 2014, and Cultura debuted in 2019.

Why is this important?

The storm recovery effort is ongoing and will continue for months if not years. Hundreds of people were killed across six states, including 102 in North Carolina. Homes, businesses, and more were wiped out, and destroyed roads remain impassable.

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Human-caused pollution — the result of burning dirty energy sources such as coal and gas — made Hurricane Helene more dangerous. A study showed that heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere that raise the global temperature increased the storm’s rainfall by 10% and its wind intensity by 11%.

A little-known consequence of this event and others like it is the cost to business owners and their employees. With the rate and severity of such weather events on the rise, however, climate refugees and natural disaster survivors will only grow in numbers.

“It’s a weird situation knowing that not only Wicked Weed’s staff was let go but how many other people in the industry are out of work right now,” Tormey told the Citizen Times. “Even the businesses that say they are rehiring are hiring a few amount of people. It’s going to be a difficult winter for a lot of people.”

What’s being done about more intense natural disasters?

The best way to counter this issue is to reduce our consumption of dirty fuels. You can take a big step by switching to an electric vehicle, but small steps add up, too. Invest in community solar, a clean, renewable energy source, or make changes around your house to energy-saving appliances and devices.

Everyday things you can do to ensure a cleaner, safer future include ditching plastic, eating plant-based meals, and shopping secondhand.

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