Brewery hopping in Asheville this weekend. 6 breweries downtown yesterday, today is West Asheville. I'll post pics later. Some really good beers here!

Chipotlemonger said:

---

Kyle98 said:

---

Brewery hopping in Asheville this weekend. 6 breweries downtown yesterday, today is West Asheville. I'll post pics later. Some really good beers here!

---

Awesome! A beer pilgrimage site if there ever was one for sure. Enjoy.

---

Yep, Bend and Asheville are both on my list. My brother has already done both. I'm not jealous at all…

Asheville Trip Report:

We've got a group of 5 that used to all live in the Flower Mound/Highland Village area and did a run club at What's on Tap there every Thursday. Over the last 5 years or so, 3 of us have moved out of Texas (Knoxville, Asheville, and me to VA), so we try to do guys' trips when we can, around beer. This year was Asheville (4 of the 5 were able to be there), and we based it around an Asheville Tourists game on Thirsty Thursday ($1 drafts, $3 craft drafts).

I drove down and got there late Wednesday night, and we just drank beer at the house to get our livers prepped for the next two days (Sweeten Creek AsheChill, Pisgah Pale Ale, Blowing Rock Kolsch).

Thursday we started right around noon with lunch at White Labs. As someone mentioned above, the food there is superb. I didn't have a pizza, but the Italian sandwich was pretty amazing. Had the ESB, since I figured IPAs would be plenty throughout the weekend.

Next stop was supposed to be DSSOLVR, but turns out it didn't open until 3:00pm, we we audibled and stopped in for a quick pint at Spanky's Bargeda, a convenience store with a bar. Decent draft list, I had a Foothills Brewing Hazy Jade. It was ok at best.

After that, headed over to One World Brewing. Underground tap room where I was crowned the champion of the dart board. Had a Make Yourself Juiceful Hazy IPA. Again, not bad, but didn't stack up to later ones.

By that time, it was after 3:00, so back to DSSOVLR. It was worth the way, top stop of the day. They had one of those mini-Nintendo consoles setup, and sure enough, the old Contra code still works! I had a couple of half pours since I couldn't decide what to get. First was Love Computer (TDH DIPA in collaboration with Oklawaha Brewing). Really damn good. Wish I had picked up a 4-pack right then, as we never made it back there.



Then I had their Italian Pilsner, Cold Caprese Pizza (collaboration with Hoof Hearted Brewing), which was probably the best beer of the day. Made with 100% local malt from Riverbend Malt House (more on them later). Dry-hopped with Tettnanger and Saphir, it was a great contrast to the juiciness of Love Computer.



Headed over the Asheville Brewing Company after DSSOLVR, and was a bit disappointed. Their Perfect Haze IPA was probably the worst beer of the day. Had a sip of my buddy's Fire Escape, a jalapeno pale ale, which was actually pretty damn good. Just the right level of spice.

Next we hit the Wicked Weed Funkatorium where I got a Chien de Ferm. Solid tart cherry sour. Cool setup there, too.

Now it was time for baseball. Had a couple of WW Perni-haze's there. Best part of the game was the scout sitting in front of us getting a number dropped off to him on a note that said, no ****, "do you want to do it?" We of course heckled him about it, so he turned around and said "did you guys just see that happen?" and showed us the note. No idea if he closed the deal or not.

After the game, headed to the only place that was still open, Burial Beer, for one last pint. I had....Sparked From the Recollection of a Distant Awakening....try saying that after a day full of drinking. NZ hops dominated this West Coast IPA. Very delicious, and a perfect cap to the day.

Day 2 started with a tour of the above mentioned River Bend Malt House. Pretty fascinating. 3 of the 4 of us are homebrewers, so it was cool to see a craft malt house and hear their story. Highly recommend calling Brian there and getting a tour if you're in Asheville.

The first brewery of the day was probably the best of the trip. For sure the best beer. Cellerest Beer Project in West Asheville. Brian at River Bend recommended it (and one of the later ones, Diatribe), as they both use his malt. I started with Albero, their oak-resting Italian Pilsner (yes, I love that style). Very similar to the one from DSSOLVR, with a hint of oak.



Then, the beer of the trip, Inizo (in collaboration with Eno River Brewing), their farmhouse pale ale fermented with foraged yeast in a cherrywood foudre. Slightly funky but 100% delicious. Unfortunately, they didn't have either of those in cans. I also sampled a buddy's pour of their Cellerweis hefe, which was also excellent.



Walked down the street to Archetype. Had Part-Time Prophet (hazy) and Cue the Sun (west coast), and both were good, if not spectacular. Also had a pizza from the shop next door, which was very good!

Headed from there to Diatribe a couple of miles away, again at the recommendation of Brian. It's right up there with DSSOLVR. Started with their New Zealand IPA, which was one of the best I've ever had. They did have cans to go, so I snagged a 4-pack.



Finished at Diatribe with a Czech Pils, which was a great example of the style. Could taste the Saaz.

Finished out our trip at Sierra Nevada. HUGE facility. Standard SN beers, solid. I had Rad Little Thing and I couldn't go to SN without getting a Torpedo, one of my first craft beers!



Finished the night at the house with the Rangers/Astros game (3x Rangers fan, 1x Astros fan) and a mixed 12 pack of Wicked Weed Pernicious variants and a Fonta Flora Brewing Hop Beard (pretty good WC IPA I got for the can art).



All in all, a very successful trip to Asheville. First time in 33 years I'd been there, so first brewery experience.

I enjoyed this 8 hopped Spanish IPA this afternoon during the World Cup Final

Hotel, Grist Mill, and Hall beers

Chilling at the beach.

When in Poland, do as the Poles do.

Nothing wrong with sucking down a Pole or two.