Asheville - a Declining Beer City?

New Origin's entire building and everything in it completely swept away, as well as the huge shipping container pizza truck another business had there as well.

 

I’m sure you have a lot going on but being one of the few locals, I’m sure the rest of us would love to hear “boots on the ground” updates over the next few days. Is FEMA there yet? What roads can get in/out of the area and such.

 

FEMA is in the area staging long term but this is still mostly a local operation. Red Cross is flying helicopters. Big camp at the outlet mall. Duke Energy is restoring electricity locally bit by bit. Water isn't expected any time soon. 26 South is fine, 40 West is open till Tennessee boarder, East is open but difficult to get past Old Fort. Driving to Charlotte is fine. Any roads near the rivers are indefinitely closed. Local iHeart wnc radio stations are all on the same signal. Airport is open.

Plenty of local water, some food markets are now open. MREs at elementary schools. Breweries have out tank water but went dry. Gas is short but several places now are open consistently. Asheville is almost okay & is in cleanup mode. It's the smaller towns with no communication that we are worried about. Pets, old folks, no meds, no oxygen tanks, etc.

Old Fort, Weaverville, Madison County, Black Mountain, Burnsville, lots of smaller towns are way worse off. Lots of cut off places that need air drops.


https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/1fudqqd/wednesday_helene_megathread/

 

Out and about this afternoon, needed some sanity....

Heard Riverside Rhapsody was ok, and went there as they were doing some limited food (the best BBQ around), but they are fine, except for no power. Working on getting food to prepare (everything is wood smoked) and power to refrigerate the beer.
Zillacoah, looks bad. Building OK, but they definitely have damage inside.

Diatribe in West Asheville, open and full tap list. Really the mental health boost we needed. Unable to wash glasses, Solo cups or many of the locals were bringing their own glasses, tumblers, mugs, etc. They weigh the beer to be sure you get your full pour. Saw some bring a sleeve of Solo cups, to give to the brewery. Jazz guitarists played, everyone friendly, chatting, etc., and busy. Owner (I'm assuming) said brite tanks are full, so they hope to last till water comes back.

A most welcome break for the psyche after the last 6 days. Given some of our frequently visited breweries may be down for a long time, and some may never recover, Diatribe will be a frequent stop.

Driving around town, 50% or more of the stop lights are still dark,

Sitting right on Haywood St. in West Asheville, saw a Raleigh fire truck go bye. Departments from all across the state are manning all stations so that all city firefighters can have 6 days off to deal with their own challenges caused by Helene.

 

This is what makes for a great community, beer scene or otherwise. Locals chipping in to help out however possible. Got to love that. We need more of that in this country overall.

 

It was nice to feel normal, at least for a couple of hours after 7 days of this, with weeks to go.

 

Curses Keme is (was) just a couple of hundreds away, upstream, same elevation, so I expect the worst for them also.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBEGB8nx_DY/?igsh=bW51c2s0cjQybnU=

Yep