ASHEVILLE, NC – Fill the void in your social calendar left by Bele Chere with Highland Brewing Company’s second annual Ale Share Festival on July 25. It's "Brewing a Better Community" by joining craft breweries and local bands for a beer festival that supports greenway efforts in Asheville.

Ale Share focuses on the local brewing talent in Asheville and the surrounding areas, and attracts breweries you aren’t likely to find at larger festivals. Each participating brewery brings one core beer and one specialty beer, creating a mix of favorites and new styles to sample. This year, attendees include: Asheville Brewing Company, LAB, One World Brewing, Frog Level Brewing Company, Oskar Blues Brewery, New Belgium Brewing, Catawba Brewing Company, Wicked Weed Brewing, Pisgah Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada, Twin Leaf Brewery, Blind Squirrel Brewery, Bearwaters Brewing Company, Fonta Flora Brewery, Blowing Rock Brewing Company, Lost Province Brewing Company, Burial Beer Company, Foothills Craft Brews, and Urban Orchard Cider Company. More breweries and cideries will be added.

Ticket sales are limited. "We like limiting the size of the festival so it's comfortable for guests and brewers. And we offer to buy the beer so breweries can be paid or donate - whichever is comfortable," said Highland President Leah Wong Ashburn.

Ale Share is on July 25, from 2-6pm. General Admission tickets are $35, VIP are $50 and include a t-shirt and early entry at 1pm. VIP tickets are available for purchase until July 12 . Soldier’s Heart, Lyric, and a third band yet to be announced will perform. Rootdown and Gypsy Queen food trucks will have food for purchase.

Net proceeds from ticket sales are donated to the Asheville Parks and Greenways Foundation. Last year the festival raised almost $8,000. Highland's contributions to APGF also come from a 4-mile evening race called Night Flight and its most recent project, Brewing for Greenways, in collaboration with New Belgium Brewing. It benefits Friends of Connect Buncombe, a non-profit working for greenways in the area.

For tickets, call 828-299-3370 or go to www.highlandbrewing.com/whats-up/event/ale-share1/

Volunteers for Ale Share are still needed. Contact the Foundation at info@parksgreenways.org, and send your name, contact address, and use subject line Ale Share. 

For more information APGF visit www.myashevilleparks.org

Highland Brewing Company began in the basement of Barley's Taproom in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, in 1994. It was founded by Oscar Wong, a Jamaican man of Chinese descent and an engineer by trade, and two brewers, one of whom is the brewmaster today. The brand was developed in honor of the Scots-Irish who settled in the Appalachian mountains of NC. Wong always loved beer and started this second career as "a fun project," when there were no other breweries in the city. Today, Asheville has one of the most dynamic beer industries on the east coast, and Highland has grown from the basement brewery to a regional powerhouse, distributing in nine states and growing. Highland is committed to quality, integrity, and respect, with a mission to be the craft brewery of choice in the Southeast. Visit http://www.highlandbrewing.com/ for more info.