Craft Beer Is A Family Business: Meet Leah Wong Ashburn

By Charlie Shelton-Ormond,

Published October 19, 2015 at 11:50 AM EDT

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Oscar Wong started Highland Brewing Company in Asheville in 1994 and passed along the business to his daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn.

Carrie Turner / Carrie Turner Photography

Ashburn on the roof of Highland Brewing Company for a toast with her team after being named Best All-Around Brewery in Asheville.

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John Warner caught this moment on top of the brewery where he shot a team toast to Highland's title as Best All-Around Brewery in Asheville's Mountain Express weekly. A rooftop bar will open here in spring 2016.

John Warner / John Warner Photography

Leah Wong Ashburn has been around beer all her life.

Her father Oscar Wong is considered the "godfather" of craft beer culture in western North Carolina. In 1994, he founded Highland Brewing Company, the first legal brewer in Asheville since Prohibition. Today, Highland is the largest homegrown craft brewery in North Carolina.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Leah Wong Ashburn about Highland as a family business and the growing number of women working in a flourishing craft beer market.