This week my travels take me to Asheville, North Carolina. I've heard of this city all my life but this was my time visiting the mountain town in western NC.
So I flew into Raleigh Tuesday night where I met up with my friend Ian who would be joining me on my trip to Asheville (approximately 4 hours west). A simple evening consisting of IHOP and some beers, we couch surfed with my friend Brian before embarking on our quick getaway.
8am passes. 10am passed. 11. 12. Ok Ian is finally awake at this point and around 1pm we hit the road. I think those that have traveled with me know I can be somewhat of a "come on, lets go lets go" kind of person, but I actually really enjoyed this lazy river of a road trip. Leisurely cruising at the speed limit, we stopped in Burlington to go browse Northern Tool Co. Because men like tools.
Ian, and his wrench
Another pit stop at a small grill restaurant attached to a gas station (super common in NC) left us with bellies full of baked chicken and potatoes.
So we finally got to Asheville around 6/6:15 and just for the hell of it decided to go swimming. If you've ever been swimming in the mountains, you understand when I say this water was freezing. Not just cold, freezing. But it was clean water and you could see straight to the bottom. The palm sized stones under your feet were smooth and icey. It was very refreshing.
So Wednesday was a fun but relatively relaxing day. Thursday is where I really started to enjoy Asheville. For those of you that do not know, this week is American Craft Beer Week in the USA. Asheville has a strong reputation as a great beer town; they have the highest number of breweries per capita in the US! So Thursday found us ready to celebrate the wonderful craft beer scene in Asheville. Seeing as I had never been to Asheville, I decided to let the locals tell me where I needed to go, along with some of my own input.
First on the list was the Wicked Weed. This brewery was aesthetically one of the greatest locations I have ever been to drink beer. Being a brew town, Asheville's breweries have a strong pride and they don't want you to feel like you're in a dive bar. Thick cut, oak tables with a beautiful, natural looking finish. Giant barrels aging beer right in front of you. And the famous quote from King Henry VIII that inspired the name of the brewery itself.
"Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed" -King Henry VIII, 1519
In our first flight (a rack of beers to sample), we selected an array of traditional brews as well as a few intricate crafts that really blended a lot of aspects of different types of beers. Sitting in the sun in the late afternoon, sipping some absolutely delicious beers in between laughter with friends, I can honestly say it is moments like these that I don't ever need a blog to remember. I have really developed a passion for beer and I cannot wait to begin brewing myself (coming soon, Fall 2013!). For those of you interested, here were a few of the beers I tried:
Heinous Brown Ale - A double brown knocking your door at 8.2%; lots of chocolate malt and earthy hops
Vixen Bourbon Aged Stout - tons of orange zest and cocoa nibs, aged for 3 months in bourbon barrels; such a rich and delicious stout
And my favorite from this brewery fits your traditional pale ale: the 1519 Pale Ale. This is one of the most signature beers from this brewery, named after the year King Henry VIII said the above mentioned quote. Dry-hopped with 5 varieties of hops, this pale ale came in smooth and crisp. Although there were a few beers I didn't really care for from here (Wild Abigial - a Belgian Abbey dubbel), I think overall I enjoyed the beers from Wicked Weed the most out of all the locations I drank at.
Wicked Weed beer tasting! Holly, Ian and myself
One of our flights from Wicked Weed.
It's not even 4:30 yet though! Next on the list was a completely new experience for me: a tour of a brewery! Oh how I had been waiting for this moment! We made our way to the east side for Highland Brewing Company, the third largest brewery in the southeast. Approaching this brewery by car was like a fairytale, haha. A winding road up a tall hill, tree lines blocking your view the entire way until you round a corner and suddenly everything opens up to reveal a rustic looking warehouse complete with the largest tasting room I've ever seen (bigger than any high school gymnasium). Our tour group was small, and we were escorted throughout the brewery as our super fun tour guide gave us the low down on brewing on the commercial scale. We passed by one of the many fermentation tanks as they were removing the yeast and we got to stop by and smell it. A 50 gallon barrel of yeast has such a warm smell, it was actually kind of pleasant =] After the tour, we had another flight to sample all their year round brews as well as one of their seasonal coffee porters and an Imperial IPA. Most of these beers were really good, however nothing really stood out as exceptional. I did really enjoy the Imperial though.
Highland Brewing Company. You aren't even seeing all of it, this is like half, and there is stuff behind it too.
Not even 6pm yet! We took a break to let our pallets rest then headed out for some dinner. A good ol' rack of ribs and tasty stout/porter half and half to finish it off, we found ourselves looking for the next location. Upon countless raves and recommendations, we headed to the Thirsty Monk for our next beverage. What was really cool about this bar was the moment you walk in you are in a devoted American Craft beer bar, carrying a huge variety of brews from asheville, as well as across the southeast and the US. Head downstairs though, and you enter a Belgian bar with the same proud devotion to the traditional European style beers. This bar was literally your one-stop shop for getting the most varied types of beer in one location. I highly recommend it to everyone to go check it out, it is exactly what everyone exclaims about!
My final location for the day took us to the Bier Garden in Asheville. I didn't spend too long here, but a crisp beer and some new friends made for a simple finish to an absolutely fantastic day. All in all, I tried about 20 new beers Thursday. It was time to wrap up my time in Asheville. After what felt more like a nap, I woke up and flew back to Atlanta. I hope you enjoyed my first real post in Where in the World Wednesdays. Tune in next week for something a bit more exotic!
I like this town.
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