King MacAlpin

The flavor was there for me, not the aroma though.

 

I thought it was solid, and definitely the best hoppy beer to come out of Highland. That's not saying much, though, considering most of their hoppy beers have been terrible. Kashmir IPA tastes like someone took Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and added water to it before bottling. They did bring a one-off Belgian IPA to a Beer City Fest a few years back which was surprisingly good, though.

In my experience, most of their sales come from people who just like to drink local stuff without any real discerning taste. The Asheville scene is full of people who are all about supporting local businesses even if those businesses don't produce good products. The people who line up to buy Cold Mountain and the people who line up at specialty releases are generally two very different crowds.

 

I guess I'm exception? I love cold mountain, and would line up to buy it if I can. I also line up at other releases when I can, such as the WW Angel series.

 

There is certainly a little overlap, but there are still pretty distinctly different beer scenes in Asheville. WW, Burial, and Green Man thrive while making generally good beers that push boundaries while terrible breweries like LAB and Twin Leaf and breweries that haven't made a new beer in years like French Broad also do great business. I'm not saying one is necessarily better than the other, but they definitely fill different niches. Just sit at any craft bar in town near where people order and count how many people come up to the bar to ask what the lightest beer is or what's the most like whatever adjunct lager of choice. One of the times Thirsty Monk got a keg of Black Note, I got there right at open because I figured the keg would tap quickly and there would be a huge line. Instead, it was about half a dozen of us drinking Black Note while everyone else ordered RJ Rockers Son of a Peach.

 

I would not compare breweries like LAB or One World to Highland or French Broad. Highland and FB produce really solid beers even if they aren't ground breaking. LAB and One World taste like bad homebrew. Twin Leaf has been hit or miss with me. I've had great beers there, I've also had really terrible ones.

I think all the breweries do a fair amount of business with tourists, although I have often seen locals in LAB or One World talking shit about Wicked Weed and other popular spots, calling them "touristy". That I will never understand. Why knock a brewery because it's popular? They're popular because they make great beer.

 

Highland and French Broad are definitely better than Twin Leaf/LAB/One World/Altamont (though I heard Altamont has been improving recently, I've yet to to visit again to try). I put FB/Highland in the group of sort-of benign breweries. Not offensive for the most part, but rarely making anything worth seeking out, either. Oyster House, Catawba, Pisgah, Wedge, etc. fall into that category as well for me.

Perhaps I've missed out, but I've yet to have even close to a good beer at Twin Leaf, let alone great. Last time I went I got a flight of 6 beers--none of which were high alcohol, barrel-aged, sour, etc., yet still somehow cost me $14 for the six--and the best of them was mediocre with 2 or 3 of them having glaring brewing flaws and being undrinkable. I never want to say I'll never visit another brewery again, but the combination of overpriced and terrible at TL has made me walk past it several times a month while traveling between Funk/Catawba/Tasty/Burial/Green Man/Hi-Wire without even the slightest temptation to stop there.

 

Highland is the best brewery in Asheville.

 

I've had some good IPAs at Twin Leaf. I've also had really bad ones. They are definitely inconsistent. I also remember having a really great mild there once. It was like 3% abv but had the flavor/body of a full strength brown ale. But yes, I have also had stuff that tasted like paint thinner (and wasn't even supposed to be sour) so there is that. I try to give even the terrible breweries another chance every once in a while.

 

I like to as well. I need to pay visits to Altamont, LAB, TL, and One World again to give them another shot, but it's generally all I can do (and all my wallet/liver can handle) to keep up with all of the good beers coming out of WW, Burial, Green Man, and Hi-Wire along with the Vintner and Tasty regularly tapping amazing brews. With all of that, giving the worst breweries in town their 4th, 5th, etc. chances to be good remains on the back burner.