I am planning an Asheville vacation for mid-late July. Does anybody have any recommendations for good places to stay that are close to the bulk of the brewery action? Thanks, Dave
Downtown inn and suites. Its nothing fancy, but its $75 a night for weekdays and $105 for weekends. Less than half the cost of other downtown hotels and a block from Asheville brewing company, jack of the woods, and thirsty monk.
I'm curious here myself, I'm planning to swing through Asheville on my way home from a FL trip in 2 weeks. I'm wondering if any locals can attest to whether it is worth my time to seek out the Sierra Nevada build going on - can you get very close, is there much to see? I'm assuming that they have no real presence/public area open yet...
This. You can easily walk to everywhere good. If you want to splurge a bit, stay at A-Loft. Either way, walk to Wicked Weed and spend most of your time there.
Heck I'll be there in 2 days, there was another thread before that discussed this. Wicked Weed was retry much a consensus.
Just spent the better part of the weekend at Wicked Weed and it was worth every minute. They are absolutely killing it right now with their saisons and hoppy beers. Had a great chat with Walt, one of the brewers, who was an awesome guy and generously gave me a sample of the watermelon saison that is going on soon - if you are there and it's been tapped do NOT miss that beer!
A few of my buddies were down there for Memorial Day weekend/week and used Airbnb to find a place that was about a 5 minute walk from the Thirsty Monk. They liked the place they stayed.
OP have you visited yet? Just curious as I am taking the family through Asheville this weekend and was wondering how your trip went. If you are going this weekend there is a festival going on that looks pretty cool
Well if you're looking for some info I just recently spent a night in Asheville. We arrived in town late and left around noon the next day so we didn't get to see everything, but we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Resort which offered a shuttle to downtown Asheville for $5 a person. It was much cheaper than trying to stay right downtown and still offered a way to drink late and was less hassle/cost than a cab. We went to Wicked Weed and imo while it was a cool spot and a nicely laid out brewpub, we weren't overly impressed with any of the beers we tried. We only ate off the late night menu which was pretty limited. It was also one of the popular hangouts for the college kids, who packed the place upstairs and down and made it pretty apparent they were mostly out to get drunk. The next morning we stopped by Appalachian Vintner and were extremely impressed. The selection was large, and while there was some old stuff sitting on the shelves, I happily walked away with $100 in bottles purchased. We got a free glass with the purchase, too. We had a couple beers at the bar and were very happy with the selection they offered. One of the employees was even willing to break apart a 4 pack for me so I could buy a single they weren't currently offering. Highly recommended. We finished by hitting up a farmer's market and bought a bunch of artisan bread and local pickles. Hope some of that helps. I wish we had more time because Asheville looked like a great city and there were plenty of attractive options we didn't have time to pursue.
Out of towners shouldn't forget that this is a college town as well, UNC Asheville is there, and even though school is out some places are more college friendly than others, and Wicked Weed is new and popular.
I normally can tolerate busy bars but after 10 hours of driving I would have much preferred a more laid back bar or at least somewhere that the patrons didn't try to loudly talk about beer like they're experts whilst supplying bad info and perpetuating gender stereotypes upon their girlfriends. One bro tried to order a blonde/fruit beer for his date, explaining that the beers there were strong and not for the uninitiated. She then says she likes craft beer, has been there before, and changes her order to the barrel aged porter.
Did you hit the Monk? If not, I would recommend it next time. Haven't been to WW yet. but have heard similar stories in addition to many positive reviews.
