Wed May 29, 2013 11:54 am
So, here's my report back after spending last weekend in Asheville.
We started off with Asheville Brewing Company.
Rocket girl was one of the standouts. It was a great Kolsch[ish] beer that had the roots of a kolsch, but a sweet, somewhat grainy pilsner malt punch. Really good. Brought a 6-er of cans home.
Fire Escape ESP - this one stands out to me, because I usually don't dig pepper (Jalapeno) beers. The base pale ale was really clean and well done while the peppers were pronounced in flavor, but not overpowering. I drank a pint, not something I usually (EVER) do with a pepper beer.
Roland's ESB - One of the better ESBs I have had in a while. Not wow, but close. I had to order a pint.
Ninja Porter - A Very solid porter that I caught right as they were tapping it. I loves me some good porter and this one was quite drinkable. Another one worthy of a pint.
Stuntman Brown was your average Brown (not American Brown).
Escape Artist and Shiva IPA were less than pintworthy IMHO.
Food was meh, bar food.
After priming at Asheville Brewing we moved on to The Thirsty Monk. GO DOWNSTAIRS.
Downstairs was an awesome, laid back atmosphere where the Belgians were quite surprising.
I spent most of the time milking a tap dry of Goudenband Oud Bruin, but there were plenty of other great beers on tap, mostly Belgian.
From there we were drawn across the street corner to Jack of the Wood. Green Man and highland on tap as well as one of my new favorite Browns... Sweet Josie Brown by Lonerider Brewing of Raleigh.
Besides Josie Brown as a highlight, I also tried the Highland Gaelic and French Broad Wee Heavy, both very solid beers.
Jack of the Wood is a cool hangout with live music and an Irish Pub atmosphere. Food is meh, bar food.
The following day we visited Cedrics while at the Biltmore Estate. I had a Brown Ale that was meh.
Once the wife was satisfied with her trip to the Estate we moved on to Bruisin Ales. It was a very cool bottle shop, but quite high priced. While I did buy quite a load there, I would spread the wealth with the local Ingles (grocery) next time. The grocery stores carry some, but not all, of what Bruisin has for much cheaper. A couple of the dudes were pretentious beer snobs. Thankfully, the dude I was talking to was pretty cool.
Next was Lexington Ave Brewing... good again, but nothing shook me. Their Cream Ale was mediocre and their Red Ale was pretty good. The staff was very easy to look at.
Overall, we didn't have any service issues, but I'm pretty laid back. Some people I know would have been pissed about the pace of service.
On a side note, later in the weekend we made a trip into Boone from the cabin and visited Peabody's Wine and Beer. GREAT shop with an Awesome selection. I picked up a case of La Fin du Monde for $20 and Stone Espresso RIS for $7.99/bottle. The La Fin was a once in a lifetime deal since their distributor screwed up, but the shop is definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in BFE, NC.
I'm sick of chasing my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
