I drove to Asheville, NC to do a brewery crawl with my
daughter, Caitlin and her husband George. I arrived at the cottage we rented
for the weekend at 4:30 and they arrived an hour later.
We had dinner reservations for 8 at
Cucina24. After dinner we went to
Jack of the Wood to sample some local brews and to hear two Appalachian bands.
On Saturday we visited eight breweries and had dinner at
Table.
Our goal was to sample their beers by ordering flights at
each brewery. After breakfast we headed east to
Lookout Brewery. This was a fun stop.
The brewery opened on May 1
st and had some very fine brews. The brew
master gave us a taste of some future releases, which were good. Their amber
and Jive Turkey were superb. Our next stop was
Pisgah Brewery. This was a very
impressive brewery with lots of space and a fantastic stage. We sampled a dozen
of their beers. The most intriguing was the “wet” hops beers. The hops were
grown right there. We had lunch and then drove on to
Oscar Blues Brewery in
Brevard. This was a wild place with great atmosphere, but the beer was
disappointing. Dale’s Pale Ale was the only beer to merit mention IMHO. Our
next stop was
Brevard Brewing Company.
Another new brewery like Lookout, but not with the signature taste. We were 50%
as we headed back to Asheville and
Highland
Brewery before dinner at Table. Bingo we hit the jackpot. A spacious
brewery with a great stage and music. The highlight was their Rye beer. Dinner
was fabulous. After dinner we walked to three more breweries in Asheville. Our
first stop was
Lexington Ave Brewery
(LAB). My favorite was their Rye. We drove to our next stop, which would
include two breweries and a club with great music. The first brewery was
Asheville Brewing which was a pleasant
surprise. Everything on the flight was very good especially the Fire Escape. We
sauntered over to
Hi-Wire Brewing,
which was another very satisfying brewery with a very good rye beer and IPA. We
closed the evening around the corner at
Ben’s
Tune Up restaurant that had a fabulous band.
Woke up Sunday with no fog and warmer than yesterday.
Because everything opened later today we hung out. We started the day in
Asheville at
Wicked Weed Brewery.
A large establishment with a tasting room downstairs and a restaurant upstairs.
The standout were their saisons. We then walked to
Curate Tapas House for lunch before
heading out west to continue our brewery crawl. We headed for Hendersonville and
Southern Appalachian Brewery and
enjoyed their flight and especially their autumn ale and Copperhead Amber. Heading
bvack to the outskirts of Asheville found us at
French Broad Brewery and their dogs.
They had a particularly good Rye beer. In the neighborhood was
Green Man, which was out of most beers
except their delightful Rainmaker. Almost around the corner and down by the
river was the most enjoyable family oriented
Wedge Brewing Company. Good beers but a
better ambiance and a brewery I would frequent often if I lived here. Closing
out the tour at another family oriented neighborhood brewery, The
Altamont Brewing Company was packed
and offered a grand selection oftheir own beers as well as some other brews
form other NC breweries farther from Asheville, which gave us a chance to taste
beers we couldn’t get to, what a bonus. Completely exhausted we headed home for
some cheese and crackers before dinner at
The
Admiral. Out of town, this quiet former dive bar has become a favorite haunt
of locals for extremely fine traditional food done in unique ways.
We had a fantastic time in Asheville and plan to return in
the spring to see how the seasonal beers then taste. We will visit breweries we
missed this trip, visit some we saw now, and enjoy the food from other
restaurants, which rank with those we did eat at. Next time the National parks
will be open so we can do some hiking which we missed this time, GRRRR.
Bottoms up.