The super popular western N.C. beer brand Catawba Brewing is eying Charlotte for a new taproom and production facility.

“It’s no secret that we’ve been looking for another location,” co-owner Billy Pyatt said. “Charlotte is certainly in our sights. … Charlotte is very, very high on the list.”

The new facility would be primarily production based but would include a large retail component. Nothing is a done deal at this point.

Pyatt stressed that nothing was being taken away from the facilities in Morganton and Asheville. The company simply needs more production space and Charlotte is a good fit.

Catawba Brewing is best known for its White Zombie White Ale, Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale, and Firewater IPA.

Honorable mention to the Mother Trucker Pale Ale. They’ve had distribution in Charlotte for a number of years (you can get it at Brawley’s Beverage and most other bottle shops) and was one of the few N.C. beers at the Wells Fargo Championship this year.

The brewery originated in the small town of Glen Alpine (Burke County) but has been based in Morganton since 2012. They also have two locations in Asheville.

Could the brewery come to the Belmont neighborhood?

The former Kellogg plant at 933 Louise Avenue (where Advent Coworking is located) has been looking for a brewer tenant for months and sources confirmed that a brewer has recently signed a lease there.

The property owner declined to name the brewery and Catawba declined to go on record with where it was looking in Charlotte.

Stay tuned as this develops.