In 1994, Leah Wong Ashburn’s father, Oscar, did something very few, if any, Chinese Americans had tried before: He opened a craft brewery. Mr. Wong, who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in the 1960s, had retired to Asheville, N.C., after a long and successful career running an engineering firm. Beer wasn’t on his mind until a friend and local brewer proposed starting their own operation — the city’s first since Prohibition. “There weren’t very many of us around back then.”Though demographics in the craft beer industry have slowly shifted since Highland opened its doors nearly 30 years ago, it is still a world dominated by white owners. According to data from the Brewers Association, only 2 percent of breweries in the United States are owned by Asian Americans like the Wongs.

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Persons: Leah Wong Ashburn’s, Oscar, Wong, Beer wasn’t, ”, Wong Ashburn Organizations: Asheville, Prohibition, Brewing, Highland, Brewers Association Locations: United States, Jamaica, N.C, Asian