Asheville NC Beer Scene?

[ncboiler]

Got clients is Ashville, never been but would like to visit sometime, mostly to goto:
http://www.reebcycles.com/2014/oska...beer-bike-destination-western-north-carolina/

Were you able to get tickets?

 

[ncboiler]

Thanks!

Hit Bouchon for dinner, then LAB for a sampler afterward. Bouchon was great. LAB was no hum. Their beers were solid. All tasted as expected. Some unusual saisons were ok to good. None of their beers wowed me. Not to slam on them, but the business seems not a beer centric one. Full bar, restaurant, music playing (including awful 80's rap artists), and middle of the road beers seems out of place in "beer city". To their credit, place was well run, and beers were not gargantuan 6+ percent ABV monsters across the board. That was the only refreshing change. I enjoyed all their beers but would not have ordered a full pint of any except the IPA or rye ale if I ever returned.

Tomorrow pisgah brewing and possible also highland and or lookout.
Friday saving room for burial, green man, and Funkatorium.
If possible will try to visit wedge. It is an out of place location though.

TD


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Agree about LAB. Not sure why it gets so much love.

 

[GrainToGlass]

Wicked Weed always gets my vote. Great sours and their food is amazing while being decently priced. Check out Hops and Vines on Haywood Street. That's my go-to homebrew shop. Good selection of craft beers and they have homebrew tastings every first Thursday of each month. And if you're into clubs, my cousin just opened up his own called Room IX at downtown Asheville. I wouldn't categorize it as "Beer Scene" though.

 

[TrickyDick]

Today visited Pisgah, and they had some nice beer as well. It was close to where we golfed. Tried 8 of the 11 available shared with my wife. Their pale ale, red ale and nitro pub ale were our favorites. Grabbed a couple stickers for the beer fridge. Wonder why the rest of the places we visited don't offer free stickers for visitors as well (without having to ask for one, just have a pile of them)?

No firm plans of yet the rest of the day yet. Probably head into asheville around dinner time, pick a place to eat and one or two places for beer samplers after dinner maybe, would still like to hit up green man, burial, possible Catawba and wedge. Sounds like one of the guys at Pisgah said the Funkatorium was really cool when he visited on an industry soft opening day. 16 sours on tap, plus two non sour. He said they were all WW sour brews. Didn't know they had that many!

Only two more nights in Asheville before headed home.

TD


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[Grannyknot]

The Wedge is hit or miss in my opinion. So don't sweat it if you don't make it.
Saturday nights they have a great food truck, but they also have movie night, and the hipsters actually come to watch the movie and will shush people if they talk. Thursdays they have a pizza truck that is pretty good.

The beers are inconsistent. Some days very very good, some days taste very poorly crafted. The Iron rail Ipa is a perfect example. I've had it when its great with lots of aroma, I've also had it when it tasted full of warm fermentation esters and was super cloudy with an odd boozy aftertaste.

 

[TrickyDick]

Visited Catawba tonight, skipped the French broad place.
Nothing was like WOW, but all four samples were good. My sinuses haven't been very helpful and can't get a lot of those hop aromas.
Tomorrow is the last day, and going to do some golfing in the morning. Want to hit burial, green man and the newly Opened Funkatorium, but who knows if I can make it all happen. Time will tell. I can't wait to see what the sixteen house sour beers are! I never knew that they had sixteen sours that they brewed!

TD




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[Grannyknot]

Walt & Luke, from Wicked Weed, were on the brewing network the other night.
If you are interested in hearing more from them -> http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/1140

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks. I'll take a listen when I have some time. There is a nice article about their business in a local freebie magazine I picked up at wienhaus I think it was called, detailing their rise to fame and fortune. Hope to get into Funkatorium tonight, but have a feeling it'll be standing room only and if so I'll pass on my last night in town.
Burial and green man is option two.
Maybe salsas for dinner or another Mexican place.

TD


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[Grannyknot]

I think, as of 3pm, the doors of the funkatorium are open.
If you go now, you can probably have your fill before the crowds make it unbearable.

Salsas will get crowded with a wait tonight as well.
Not sure what sort of food you like, but Chai Pani is one of my favorite restaurants there.
Its "Indian street food", and I have never had a bad meal there. Grove arcade area.

 

[TurfinUSA]

You didn't miss anything at French Broad. Burial can be very interesting and right around the corner Greenman is solid.

 

[TrickyDick]

Well,

SWMBO wasn't too thrilled about potentially going to wait in a crowded bar for sour beers, so as we drove into downtown Asheville debating on what to do on our last night, she finally says that we need to go to Funkatorium to see if its not too crazy busy.

We get a prime parking spot on the street just down a hundred yards or so from the door. No lines, we walk right in and yes it was busy, but not overly so, just before 5PM. We take a seat, and folks at the picnic style tables were friendly. Our waiter was the same as a few nights before at the main wicked weed bar. I spied the Dickinson's and the Guthy's were there, though I didn't want to bother trying to say hello on such an important evening for them. Huge cajones it's gotta take to open a bar dedicated to practically sour only beer!

Had three beers plus sampled some of the funky beer my wife courageously tried (not being a huge beer fan, and certainly not a sour beer fan). All were good. Took some pics, bought a shirt and some bottles to go!!

Needless to say after this, thanked my wife, and we went off for dinner, skipping burial and green man which were on our to do list. I think Funkatorium makes up for missed both those. I think burial would've been nice if their hours and days of operation were better. I hear they are looking for upgrading to a 20 BBL setup.

At any rate, this concludes my asheville beer experience. Here are some pics of the place, the menu, and the beer. As I was posting this, I realized I totally forgot to take pics of the barrel room! DOH! I think when our server brought my box of beer to go, I got all giddy and just wanted to take my treasure back to the car! By the way, in the photos, the hot chick is my wife!





TD



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[passedpawn]

That's very cool. I can't wait to get back up there and check that out. What a great town.

 

[2BeerSpeer]

Was in Asheville 2 weeks ago.. Love Wicked weed Was there when they released the 11.7% barrel aged stout that was surprisingly smooth! The food was better than expected. I went to the Burial after and it was cool. They were having a festival there and 28 other breweries had beer on tap in rotation. I had several good beers and 1 great beer.... Mexicali Stout by Birdsong in Charlotte. Green Man was OK I think the crowd was hurt by all the special events going on at a few other places. I always stop by winehause (beside the thirsty monk) before I leave for some local brews to take home and got Hi-Wire's Strongman.... a Coffee Milk Stout. Absolutely delicious! I just ordered a case from a local bottle shop because 6 wasn't enough. Going back 1/24 to see Corey Smith at the Orange Peel.....will stay the weekend this time!