Asheville Brewery Trip

Average cuts it quite well in Asheville. The Asheville brew scene is much more about quantity than quality and always has been. Hell, until the past couple of years there was very little quality in Asheville. I love the city and the beer scene is great now, but until WW and Burial opened a few years ago, the beer scene in Asheville consisted of Highland Gaelic Ale, Pisgah Pale Ale, and French Broad's line-up of unremarkable beers. When Asheville was first named "Beer City" in some random online poll some 4 or 5 years ago, there really wasn't a single sought-after brewery or beer anywhere in the city. Consider how many shitty breweries in Asheville thrive almost solely on some combination of locale, food, and tourism rather than quality of beer. I wouldn't say Hi-Wire is the best in Asheville and I had pretty much completely dismissed them until having Strongman for the first time last year. Now, I'd put them ahead of most of the breweries in town in terms of the overall average beer quality. Their Kitchen Sink and Burial's Piston were probably the two best stouts to ever come out of Asheville, and both were really accidents.

 

Pisgah has put out a hell of a lot more than Pisgah Pale for quite some time now (though Pisgah Pale is pretty damned good), Solstice, Vortex, Valdez have all been around for years and years. Green Man beers, for their styles, have been above average for years.

 

For a great beer bar hit up Thirsty Monk, great selection upstairs and the downstairs bar is a Belgian bar

 

I feel like this is a daily ocurrance in the Facebook trade groups. "Hey i'm visiting X city what breweries or bottle shops should I try?" or even better "I'm doing a road trip from Y to Z what breweries should I stop at along the way?" It's like people have forgotten how to use google. You can literally type brewery into google maps and every brewery in your field of regard will pop up.

 

Get 'em, Tiger!

 

Wow, I don't agree at all. Hi Wire and Funkatorium are my only Asheville "must stops." Everything else is as time/schedule dictates.

 

Agreed. There are at least 7-8 Asheville breweries that I only go to every few years "just to see if it's changed." I've yet to be proven wildly wrong on any of them.

 

I think the idea is not just what breweries are there, but which are recommended by the locals.

I'd be much more amenable to these constant threads if people would customize them a little. Instead of just "where to go in Asheville?" how about telling us what kind of styles you typically seekout, if you're drinking on site versus bottle shopping, is food a priority, etc. Those are the kinds of posts where customized recos are useful.

 

I can't recommend Curate enough, I've only been there once, but the food was absolutely amazing. Incredibly delicious, unique food authentic to its style. As for another great restaurant that I fell in love with, I would also highly recommend The Bull and Beggar. It's a tiny, intimate little French restaurant, and has a pretty awesome raw bar as well. Its in the same building as Wedge, so thats another major plus.

 

You could say that about everywhere.

5 years ago there were no cans of Heady Topper. Hill Farmstead was just getting started. There was no Side Project or de Garde. I would say 90% of the sought after beers and breweries were unknown. 5 years ago Cantillon used to be a shelf beer in most places (including Asheville). The beer explosion has happened in the past 5 years. The one thing Asheville has always been about is Asheville. Most people in this town drink Asheville produced beer, and that is how it has always been. When Thirsty Monk first open they got a ton of heat because it was a Belgian bar, and not serving Asheville beers. They compromised by designating the upstairs towards more local brews.

 

Pisgah had a period of a good couple of years where they only ever bottled Pale Ale, and while Green Man's staples are solid (even though the only way you used to be able to get them was in prefilled growlers from grocery stores--same as Pisgah for a while), they did not start branching out until the past few years as well. None of that really refutes the point that most of what is available in Asheville is average with quite a bit that is below average and still thriving economically.

 

Fair point. There is a nice bell curve to the quality in most areas, though back when Aville was first named "Beer City USA," that bell curve was slanted far more to the negative side. Compared to Portland, where you can walk between Hair of the Dog, Cascade, and Deschutes among others.

I remember the days when Cantillon sat around on shelves for $20/750mL. Unfortunately, those were the days before I was into sours and still thought $20 for a bottle of beer was ridiculously expensive. I'm still sad about it.

 

Great call! I may be headed up to Asheville this weekend. Cheers!

 

I assumed we were talking about going to the breweries, not bottling. What Pisgah puts out in bottles (even today) pales in comparison to the rest of their lineup, same for Green Man.

There are few breweries in Asheville that I'd call below average. Craggie was certainly below average and it closed. I personally think Hi-Wire and Twin Leaf are below average (though I'll also admit to not having tried either of them in the last year because of past experience) but obviously others disagree. Many think Wedge is below average, but I think they have mostly average/solid beer with a couple of really good beers tossed in. The only other places I'd really call below average in Asheville are French Broad (though their Rye Hopper is good) and Altamont (which is more of a locals place anyway I think).

 

Great to hear it! I don't 'get' it (about Hi-Wire, love the Funkatorium) but as long as there's enough people that do, glad to see them stay in business.

As much as I love Portland, even they don't have an area like the South Slope with breweries everywhere. The three you point out are a mile and a half apart. The closest thing is the walk from Hair of the Dog to Commons to Cascade to Base Camp, so 4 breweries in a mile and a half. And that doesn't count the fact that many Portland locals mostly see Cascade as tourist beer because of the price compared to what else is available in Portland, and the fact that Hair of the Dog can't seem to carbonate a bottle of beer to save its life the last couple years

What Portland really does have that Asheville doesn't is great beer bars and stores to hang out at. Bruisin' Ales has never been a store that was easy to hang out in because of the size, though Appalachian Vintners and Tasty are. And Asheville has Thirsty Monk and Barley's. But Portland has so many more great beer bars which is why, to me, Portland is more Beer City USA. Though it also depends on what you mean as Portland doesn't have near the number of breweries per capita as Asheville has.

 

And Twin Lead is expanding too. I agree, their beers aren't top-notch compared to others mentioned on this thread, but they must be doing something right.

 

Two spots to start:

http://avl.tastybeverageco.com/
http://bruisin-ales.com/

 

Freudian slip if I ever saw one

 

Haha. Touché.

 

Two places at the top Weed and Burial, easily the best beers in Asheville. Hit 12 Bones for lunch, Barleys for pizza and a quick beer, done.