Asheville/Hickory

Dude I doubt anything is going to be closed on the 4th. Could be wrong...But its all business. Cant miss that holiday. I was in town for memorial day.. Holy hell I havent seen downtown asheville so busy in my life

 

Everything will be open. Make sure to go see Sierra Nevada... It is truly beautiful and fun. Asheville is easy. It is a constant carnival. Where are you staying?

 

Stop by Catawba while in Asheville or when you stop in Morganton for Fonta Flora.

While in Hickory, definitely stop by Olde Hickory Station and/or Crescent Moon. Great beers on tap. Hops and Grapes in Hickory is an excellent beer store.

 

Hops & Grapes in Hickory is a great beer store (no bias here at all, haha), they just recently installed a new bar with a good amount of taps. Also, the Hickory Station (owned by OHB) is worth a stop. Right around 50 taps. I believe both of those stores still have OHB Omega Point as well, an excellent and highly touted BA Barleywine. And while in Asheville, you really can't go wrong at all stopping in anywhere up there, but the Sierra Nevada brewery/tap room is an absolute must.

 

That's where I stayed when I went in November. ~$9 uber ride to Wicked Weed. Worked out good.

 

@Krazedpgt I'd probably recommend going to The Station, they have all of their standard beers there, plus a few special one off casked versions of their own beers, and on top of all that a usually pretty good guest tap list. They also have all of their own on bottles (especially Omega Point) for sale there as well, with a decent offering of other breweries. But fear not, if you want to hit both The Station and the Tap Room, they are literally right across from each other. Just walk across the rail road tracks and you're there within a minute. Also, you could hit up their main brewery down the street, haha. Then Hops & Grapes is about a 5 min drive from there as well, definitely recommend hitting it up too!

 

@Krazedpgt sorry, I just saw you asked between the The Station and their brewery, not the Tap Room. I'd hit The Station before the brewery. The brewery has a small little bar inside, but I'm not entirely sure what those hours are for it. Plus, the actual brewery doesn't sell bottles I believe. But again, you could go to the Station and grab some bottles (plus their food is pretty damn good) and then walk down to the actual brewery for a tour. Just ask the bartender what time their hours are for tours, or maybe someone on here knows. The Tap Room I was talking about is a great place as well, they have all their mainstays plus a smaller guest tap list...but they also have 3 vintages of PVW...plus great pub food!

 

Just be warned.. Asheville will be packed out for the 4th.. I'll be in the area, but probably won't ride into asheville and stay in the mtns instead.

If you want a one stop shop area, hit the south slope.

Funkatorium for some sours, hit up green man, twin leaf, tasty bev.. grab some chocolate from french broads tasting room, and swing over to burial to hand out and enjoy some beers.

I think it's the best spot to go, as you can park somewhere obscure and be withing walking distance to tons of stuff.

 

Very true. We spent a good part of last week in Asheville, loved it, but it is a big carnival.... I love the place, but a Saturday 4th of July will be a special zoo.

 

Since its was mentioned a couple times, just wanted to point out that Hops & Grapes in Hickory is closing early on the 4th at 6pm from what I've heard. Agree with @nas4atu, no idea what the hours for the OHB brewery are for. I much prefer the Station to the Tap Room as the non-OHB beer list is better, and they'll both have the same OHB beer.

Be patient on the 4th if you're in Asheville. As others have said, it'll be jam packed. During summer non-holiday weekends its bad enough but for the 4th it'll probably be crazy. Will probably be fine, just a bit slow.