What beer to pick up in the Carolinas?

[popecrisco]

Hey guys, weekend trip to Ashville from Atlanta, and looking to get some leads on what i should pick up when in different beer landscape.

Wife, who went into town today has already picked up a few growlers.

TIA

Pope

 

[PerpetualBuzz]

Check out Barley's downtown they have a great selection of local NC brews on draft. Apparently Tupelo Honey is a good place to eat as well, came highly recommended to me. Highland brewing in Asheville (oatmeal porter is my favorite), Foothills brewing (hoppyum ipa & people's porter), Green Man brewing (ipa), Pisgah Brewing, there are a lot of good ones.

 

[Special Hops]

Highland makes some excellent beers.

 

[Gtrman13]

Thomas Creek which is based in Greenville, SC pumps out some pretty tasty beers. RJ Rockers, another upstate SC brewery, is IMHO one to stay far away from. I've never tasted such a foul brew before and I've never come across another human that's enjoyed any of their beers. Please pardon the needless slandering.

I'll second the vote for Barleys Taproom. They also have the best pizza I've ever eaten!

 

[Gtrman13]

Oh yes, and highland as well. Thanks other poster! The gaelic ale is out of this world!

 

[Backporchbrewery]

Bruisin Ales always has a great selection, along with some growlers from local breweries. It's downtown on Broadway St. or bruisinales.com

Edit: And last time I was at Greenman Brewery they had single hopped IPAs made with Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, and Columbus. They were great!

 

[Nightbiker]

I'm rather fond of Red Oak Brewery (Whitsett, NC), their BattleField Black (now called Battlefield Bock) was quite tasty as I recall.

 

[wowzers]

Anything by Pisgah brewery. If you can make the trip its only fifteen minutes east of Asheville.

 

[mlp2147]

I'm a fan of Duck Rabbit's Milk Stout.... Dark, smooth, chocolateiness good stuff.

 

[halucin8]

There's a newer brewery in Asheville called Lexington Avenue Brewery (LAB). They just won like 10 medals at Hickory Hops Beer festival a few weeks ago. Everything they had was Excellent.

 

[Bacchusuga]

I agree with Pisgah and Highland. And Barley's has a great selection of beers. I got my first home brew kit at Hops and Vines in Asheville--good selection and knowledgable folks working there.

 

[TheSeether]

Bruisin' Ales is THE beer shop to visit in Asheville.

The Thirsty Monk is THE beer bar to visit in Asheville. Second up would be Barley's Taproom. Jack of the Wood is good and Bier Garden is okay but I would not prioritize it.

All of the good breweries there have already been mentioned. As for Foothills, good luck finding it but their Seeing Double is the only regular rotation beer I'd recommend. They have phenomenal seasonals but I doubt they ever make it out of the brewpub onto another shelf. I have seen the Baltic Porter on occasion and it is worth picking up.

Believe it or not, the Whole Foods in Greenville, SC which you will be passing both ways has a great selection; better than any other WF I've been into on the East Coast.

Pisgah Neon Sun IPA and Pisgah Pale Ale are stupendously good.

Have fun in Asheville, it is very tourist and beer friendly.

 

[downtown3641]

I'm a fan of Duck Rabbit's Milk Stout.... Dark, smooth, chocolateiness good stuff.

Everything I've had by Duck Rabbit has been excellent.

 

[RedGuitar]

Lone Rider Brewery's (based in Raleigh, NC) Sweet Josie brown ale is one of the best beers I've ever had. Their other beers are good, too, but that Sweet Josie...

 

[PerpetualBuzz]

I like Big Boss brewing out of Raleigh as well, Helles Belle is tasty. The Ace's & Ates coffee stout that they had out during the winter was fantastic.

 

[TheSeether]

Big Boss does some decent beers. Aces and Ates is very good. They used to make one called the Big Operator I thought was awesome (raspberry stout). They used to bottle but the last time I was at the brewery they said they wouldn't be doing that anymore. I did keep those bottles because they were numbered out of lots sized under 2,000 bottles. I've thought about stripping the labels just to reuse the bottles a few times as that seems pretty rare but I can't imagine anyone really caring.

 

[Beerrific]

www.nantahalabrewing.com/
Brewer is a homebrewer from Atlanta and it is practically on your way if you take the scenic route.

 

[TheSeether]

www.nantahalabrewing.com/
Brewer is a homebrewer from Atlanta and it is practically on your way if you take the scenic route.

My bad, I attributed to Pisgah what belonged to Nantahalah. I should know better because I use their growlers for StarSan storage. I don't doubt Pisgah makes good beer I've just had nothing but watery peepee from them and stopped trying. The Neon Sun IPA and Pale Ale are heavenly creations from Nantahalah.

 

[TheSeether]

Olde Hickory Brewing makes some decent beers, too. I suggest Death By Hops but they have other good ones.

 

[Beerrific]

My bad, I attributed to Pisgah what belonged to Nantahalah. I should know better because I use their growlers for StarSan storage. I don't doubt Pisgah makes good beer I've just had nothing but watery peepee from them and stopped trying. The Neon Sun IPA and Pale Ale are heavenly creations from Nantahalah.

Noon Day IPA. And yes, it is very good.

 

[TheSeether]

Haha, thanks, the growler I got had a smudged label and the gravity high. I had read Neon Day thanks to smudge and remembered Neon Sun thanks to the gravity.

 

[arobotsanus]

Coast in SC...http://www.coastbrewing.com/


Small place, family run, GREAT beer. Try the hopart IPA.

 

[jaynik]

I agree with Thomas Creek. As my t-shirt says, "Ninjas Love Thomas Creek". They had a nice limited production IPA when I visited a couple years ago.

 

[Improbable]

If you're close enough to Durham, Fullsteam is a young brewery that's doing some real nice stuff. Last I checked they're not bottling, but their growlers look fantastic.

Mother Earth is from a little farther east and are putting out some nice stuff. Not incredible, but definitely not bad.