Remembering Oscar Wong — and Carrying His Legacy Forward
Oscar P. Wong | October 21, 1940 to May 25, 2025
Nearly a year later, it still feels like Oscar is here. Around the brewery. In the stories we tell. In the way we show up for each other and for this community. If you’ve spent any time at Highland, you’ve experienced a piece of what he built. Oscar was so much more than the founder of Highland Brewing.
The beginning of something bigger than beer
When Oscar started Highland back in the ‘90s, he wasn’t trying to build “Beer City, USA.” He just loved good beer and believed Asheville could be a place where people gathered around it. What started as a retirement project turned into something much bigger — helping shape Asheville into one of the most recognized craft beer destinations in the country. But what mattered most to Oscar wasn’t growth or recognition. It was people.
He said it all the time: “Personal relationships are the currency of life.”
And that idea still guides us every day.
His legacy is still unfolding
Over the past year, we’ve had time to reflect on just how lasting Oscar’s impact is.
At the brewery, we feel his presence every day, especially when enjoying his favorite beer. This year, we’ve reintroduced Oatmeal Porter as Oscar’s Oatmeal Porter, featuring his signature and the same beloved recipe. For us, it’s a way to keep honor something he genuinely loved with the people who walk through our doors every day.
At UNC Asheville, where Oscar served as a member of the Board of Trustees, a garden was recently dedicated in his honor. It feels exactly right — something thoughtful, grounded and meant to be shared. A place that will keep growing, just like the community he cared so deeply about.
The things we carry forward
Oscar taught us a lot about brewing beer. But more than that, he showed us how to build something that lasts. He led with humility. He made time for people. He wrote handwritten notes. He told stories that got better every time you heard them. He showed up — for employees, for friends, for this community. That’s the part of his legacy we think about most.
You can see it in the way our team works together.
In the familiar faces at the bar.
In the conversations that start as strangers and end as something more.
And in the reminder we carry with us — that what we’re building isn’t just a brewery. It’s a place for people to connect. That’s what mattered to him most.
