April Asheville visit

Sure they do, it's just Pint sized, bring friends...

 

Wife and I are also planning a beercation in Asheville this spring. It looks like such a vibrant beer scene with some incredible beer. Like the OP, we're considering a tour (the newer one has good reviews on Trip Advisor) and will follow up with a trip to a couple of "imports": Oskar Blues and Sierra Nevada if open.

Any restaurant recommendations (foodie places or burger joints...as long as the beer selection is decent)? Staying downtown.

 

I have never gone on any of the official beer tours, but this was my one and only experience, so take it with a grain of salt. We did our own Asheville brewery tour last year and during our first stop, which was at The LAB, we sat at the bar drinking our pints and watched the bartenders start pouring flights for the upcoming organized brewery tour group. They poured probably 20 flights of beer and sat them at the reserved tables and then... nothing. I bet almost 30 minutes went by before the tour group actually got there. I don't know if this was the brewery trying to get ahead of the game before the crowds rolled in or if it was the tour bus running late, but either way it rubbed me wrong. This was also probably the first stop on the tour too, because it's one of the only breweries in Asheville that opens before noon.

Even without said event, I would still rather organize my own day. Asheville has so much to offer you can easily plan a day that involves hitting 5+ breweries along with a couple stops at some of the more traditional attractions. I would rather just be in control of my own schedule and my own beer selections. Plus a lot of the breweries are within easy walking distance of each other. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but ABC, Green Man, Hi Wire, Burial are all within walking distance of each other (and I think Wicked Weed may be as well).

 

Yes, DrewBrew87 a bunch of breweries are technically in walking distance. Hi Wire, Burial, Greenman, Wicked Weed, and Asheville Brewing, and well LAB are all walkable of each other. However I usually find after the first couple of stops walking can become an issue along with navigation. Burial and Green Man can be tricky to find,
(within 150' of each other but are on side/side streets) while, Wicked Weed, Hi Wire, Asheville Brewing (on Coxe Ave, not the one on Merrimon Ave) are on main type roads.

The Beer Cruises offered in Asheville by a couple different companies are nice because they offer a varied array of stops, all around Asheville and some a bit farther out. You can almost tailor the stops to fit what you want to see. It minimizes the walking and the navigating errors and the pick ups are downtown within walking distance of hotels. Even though I'm local, I will still do the Beer Tour when friends come to town, just easier and more relaxed. Plus it allows one to catch Wedge or Pisgah and Highland, those breweries not within walking distance.

I've made no bones about my beer location experiences in Asheville, I like Wicked Weed, Highland, Pisgah and Burial, they're my top tier. My, next tier down, would be Green Man, Wedge (though it has a unique feel to the place and worthy a visit), Hi Wire, and French Broad. Not sure what's going on with Lab, not sure if they're more into eats rather than beer crafting, but so far I've not been as impressed as other spots in town, but I promise to keep trying.

 

Look up Dupont State forest, awesome waterfalls and hiking trails and such.

 

If you're still checking this, come April you will have another choice to make in that whole walking distance area of town, the "south slope" of Asheville as it is being called. Twin Leaf is set to open near Asheville Brewing (like across the street) in early March. Which is just past Hi Wire to the West, where Green Man and Burial are just to the south of Hi Wire.