Beyond the Breweries
“In Asheville, you go into a place that you would think would be a shotand-a-beer type of tavern, and there are eight or ten craft-beer handles and not a macrobrew in the house,” says Sierra Nevada Beer Ambassador Bill Manley. “Hole-in-the-wall joints, not the usual suspects when it comes to craft beer, and that goes for on-premise stores, too,” he continues. “There are amazing craft selections in gas stations. It’s hard to not find good beer here.”
Check out these Asheville watering holes, restaurants, and specialty stores for rare beer lists, fresh bar concepts, and unforgettable ambiance.
Pour Taproom 800 Haywood Road 828.505.0352 pourtaproom.com
Asheville boasts the world’s largest self-pour bar. Opened in the summer of 2014, Pour Taproom is a pour-your-own tasting room in West Asheville, with beer available by the ounce.
The Thirsty Monk 92 Patton Avenue 828.254.5470 monkpub.com
This famous pub is often noted as one of the finest beer bars on the planet, where guests can sample a wide array of rare craft beers. In addition to The Thirsty Monk’s downtown Asheville location, the company has expanded to include two more pubs on the south and north sides of Asheville: the Top of the Monk cocktail bar and Open Brewing, where homebrewers can brew and serve their beer on draft.
Pack’s Tavern 20 South Spruce Street 828.225.6944 packstavern.com
This quintessential downtown pub sits in one of Asheville’s more historic buildings in Pack Square Park. Pack’s boasts an outdoor patio perfect for sipping its large selection of local drafts on tap.
The Bier Garden 46 Haywood Street 828.285.0002 ashevillebeergarden.com
Head to historic Haywood Street in downtown Asheville for one of western North Carolina’s best beer selections. The Bier Garden has more than 200 beers on draft and in bottles.
Universal Joint 784 Haywood Road 828.505.7262 ujasheville.com This bar makes you feel as if you were hanging out in your own backyard with the perk of daily rotating drafts.
Jack of the Wood 95 Patton Avenue 828.252.5445 jackofthewood.com
Home to the original Green Man Brewery, Jack of the Wood is a Celtic-style tavern that still offers the brewery’s lineup of English-style beers to complement its made-from-scratch pub menu.
Root Bar 1410 Tunnel Road 828.299.7597 facebook.com/rootbarnumberone
Nothing says more about a town than its dive bars. This one sports a local craft-beer lineup and a dedicated yard for root ball (a combination of bocce ball and horseshoes).
Bruisin’ Ales 66 Broadway Street 828.252.8999 bruisin-ales.com
The first dedicated beer store in Asheville opened downtown on Broadway Street in 2006. This shop stocks more than 1,000 labels from around the globe.
Hops & Vines 797 Haywood Road, Suite 100 828.252.5275 hopsandvines.net
Hops & Vines, part homebrew-supply shop and part boutique liquor store, hosts weekly tastings and homebrew classes.
12 Bones Smokehouse 5 Riverside Drive 828.253.4499 12bones.com
No trip to the South is complete without finger-lickin’ barbecue, and here is some of North Carolina’s best. This casual, lunch-only restaurant sells smoked meat by the pound and local beer on draft. Brewery in 1997, and Burial Beer Co., a company focused on Belgian-style ales that’s building an urban farm and beer garden that will open in spring of 2015. When Catawba Brewing, a craft brewery based in Morganton, North Carolina, recently announced its plans to expand into Asheville, it became the eighth brewery to take space in South Slope.
One of those eight breweries is Wicked Weed Brewing, which opened next to Orange Peel, Asheville’s largest music venue, in 2012. The brewpub has been noted for its large variety of beer styles, including hoppy West Coast ales and barrel-aged beers. Wicked Weed has also carved out its niche with the development of a sour-and-wild brewhouse and production facility called the Funkatorium. This tasting room is the first and only sour-and-wild-dedicated tasting room in the southeastern United States with 500+