Hi-Wire & Sours

Hi Wire doesn't get nearly enough love in all the Asheville talk around here. Such skilled brewers.

 

If they are skilled why cant they make a halfway decent IPA? Sort of like the brewery across from the funkatorium. Had an IPA there, sat it down after a few sips and left.

 

I can't say I remember their IPA as much as other offerings, but I liked everything there. I also don't judge a brewery by it's IPA...people differ so much on hop varietals they like and don't like. I know of several IPAs that are rated world class that I can't stand.

 

Because that isn't their focus. People in Asheville love the Wedge's IPA and that is utter garbage.

Hi-Wire will be coming out with an IPL soon, and a lot of their energy is placed on doing lagers right.

 

They should drop it then. No point of releasing below average beer.

 

I would put money on it that Hi-Wire sells more of their IPA than every brewery in Asheville other than Highland and Wicked Weed (I am excluding Sierra Nevada)

 

They can, it just so happens their flagship IPA sucks. Their Hop Circus series is always great and the Hoppy Wheat they made last summer was amazing. And you're going to have to be a bit more specific when you say "the brewery across from the funkatorium" since there are 4 of them. I assume that you're talking about Twin Leaf since it's the closest to the funkatorium and yeah, all their beers are consistently terrible. Off flavors galore in that place. If you're speaking of Catawba, I've only ever had one beer by them that was actually good and it was a one-off Black IPA at their Morganton brewery. Everything else I've had from them has ranged from bad to average. If you're talking about Green Man or Burial, then you're simply mistaken.

 

Back on topic, if the two sours I had at the new Hi-Wire facility when it first opened is any indication of how their sour program is going to go, they're not going to be very good.

 

Hi-wire makes some solid beer, just not IPA (apparently) or Sours Luke mentioned above. Now, give me their Lager or the Brown and we can talk about very good beer. Problem for me is that there are better beers to be had in Asheville. Fortunately for me the movie theater I like to frequent and that is closest to the house usually has one or the other on tap! (Brown or Lager).