Thinking about heading up to Asheville for the day. Just wanna know what the "must" brewery/brewpubs/bars are. I'm planning on Wicked Weed and possibly the Thirsty Monk, but other than that what are your thoughts? Also, it will be a drive from upstate SC so any other places on the way are good to know! Thanks
Breweries: Wicked Weed and Burial (then I might consider Twin Leaf and Altamount but I have not visited those two yet). No strong opinions on bars.
Yea, hard to beat Wicked Weed, downstairs. Wedge for the interesting side show some nights. But, really my favorites would be Wicked Weed, Highland and Pisgah out near Black Mountain. If you stick strictly to Asheville, AND your spending the night near the South Slope, do a walking tour of said south slope. I did one a month ago, we hit Burial (only open Thur-Sat I believe), Green man, Hi Wire, Wicked Weed and don't remember much after that. All within walking/crawling distance of each other. IF you're really hardy you could toss in Twin Leaf and Asheville Brewing as well. You would be a stouter man than me if you managed that run. Good luck.
This is very true. But I would try and hit Burial too. I hit those 2 and Twin Leaf the last time I was there...I'd skip Twin Leaf for now. Nice looking place, decent to bad beer from what I had. Left after a couple and went back to Wicked Weed.
As far as bars go, Thirsty Monk always has something great on! check downstairs for belgians/sours and upstairs for more American style selections like IPAs/Stouts
I agree with everyone else. But, I'd suggest stopping by Barley's for a brew or two. They have amazing local and regional beers if you are looking for something beyond the AVL breweries.
Coming from upstate SC its probably out of the way, but I'd toss in my support for Pisgah in Black Mountain, about 30 minutes or so from Asheville. Was my favorite place until Weed opened up. I'd say if its the first time in Asheville for you, Wicked Weed and Thirsty Monk are musts. For food I'd go to Barley's or ABC; there's much better food elsewhere but those have great beer (ABC is a brewery, Barley's isn't). Past that, Wedge is probably my favorite place to hang out and drink some beer so almost every trip I make to Asheville includes Wedge. Green Man is a must if you're a huge English beer fan, otherwise make it there if you have some extra time but don't go out of the way for it. I'm not a huge fan of Highland's beer (though some of the brewery-only stuff they put out is interesting), but its worth visiting the brewery that started it all for Asheville. A pretty typical day visit for me (I live about 1.5 hours away) is: - Pisgah - ABC/Barley's for lunch - Wedge - Thirsty Monk - Wicked Weed (for dinner if I can grab some seats) That's a pretty solid beer-filled day that won't leave the taste buds wanting for more...
