Guest post by csamek
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1
- Downtown Asheville
- Asheville Brewing Company
- The Thirsty Monk
We traveled to Asheville by car, an 8 hour drive from our home city of Cleveland, Ohio. A beautiful drive, if you ask me. The mountains are beautiful. When we arrived, it was around 7:00 PM and we went straight to the house we shared with 6 others. We found this house using Airbnb. I highly recommend it if you are looking for comfortable AND cheap travel options. You should know Asheville is a beer city. Go for the breweries, they are worth the trip. After a quick refresh and a few beers, we headed to downtown Asheville via Uber. Uber is available throughout the city and the fares are cheap as you don’t have to go too far. Our first stop was The Asheville Brewing Company. The pizza is amazing, the beer is amazing. It’s amazing. Tons of beers to choose from, regardless of your palette, you’ll find something. Following dinner we headed to The Thirsty Monk for you guessed it, more beer. Again, tons of options. Very casual, definitely a late night kind of place.
Day 2
- Mayfel’s
- Hi-Wire Brewery
- Green Man Brewery
- Twin Leaf Brewery
- Catawba Brewing Co.
- 5 Walnut Wine Bar
- Cúrate
Day 2, Friday, has us embark on a brewery tour, but first we had to eat! We stopped at Cajun-influenced Mayfel’s and it was so so good. It’s Cajun so think New Orleans– Po’Boys, Gumbo, Shrimp & Grits and it’s star, a Bloody Mary Bar that ran until 4 PM. We each got different meals and sampled each other’s. Everything was fantastic. If you are worried you might not have a taste for Cajun food, don’t worry, you will. There are traditional brunch options if you have a nervous stomach… but please try the Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Biscuit. Following brunch, we started our brewery tour at Hi-Wire Brewery. It has many options to choose from: Pale Ales, Brown Ales, IPAs, and Lagers. My friends drank the darker stuff because they are pros–I stuck with the summer seasonal ‘Uprisin Hefeweizen’ and it was top notch. After that we headed to Green Man Brewery. Their outdoor space is awesome and we spent a great deal of time here just sampling it’s legendary brews. Their flagship brews are an IPA, ESB (amber ale) and a Porter. They had a summer IPA while we were there that was pretty awesome, lot’s of citrusy goodness. Again, this is a beer city guys, come thirsty. Then it was Twin Leaf Brewery. By now, the beer has kicked in and everything is awesome including the beer so excuse the brevity as I don’t remember much…They had an oatmeal stout and it was good…I think. We ended at Catawaba Island Brewing Company, where we sampled their home brews. I had the Whitecap Wit and it was probably my favorite beer of the trip. I had it again later in our travel so I can confirm it was an accurate assessment. Then we went home. We slept. My husband and I had a few glasses of wine at 5 Walnut Wine Bar and watched a charming cover band do Sia and Whitney Houston. You’ll find a lot of live acts in Asheville–all seemingly super talented. Following that we headed to Cúrate. Sit at the bar, order the small plates as much as you can but if you need a recommendation lardo ibérico ahumado, it’s like the best bacon on toast you’ve ever had in your life.
Day 3
- Limones
- Wicked Weed Funkatorium
- Downtown Asheville
- BT’s Burger Joint
We stopped at Limone’s for brunch. It’s Mexican cuisine with Californian influences. I recommend any of their margaritas but sip lightly, they are strong! My husband got a cup of their hot chocolate, served with churros and I had plate envy. Their more savory options are good too though! We then headed over to Wicked Weed Funkatorium, which quickly became my group’s favorite stop. They are all big fans of sour beers which I struggle with–but if you are looking to try sours or love them already, this is the place to visit. I was a HUGE fan of their Coolcumber, with hints of cucumber (just in case you didn’t guess). While we were there, they had a release party for one of their new brews which was awesome because we got to take some home! I am not sure if this is an every day sort of thing but they were bottling other beers as well, so we got to take a variety home. After the few hours there, we then walked around the city of Asheville. If you like shopping, there are tons of very unique boutiques, bookstores and novelty shops. We had lunch at BT’s Burger Joint, which wasn’t too exciting I am afraid. This was my pick too! Nothing too special about their burgers, other then the fact you could customize. I had too much fun at Wicked Weed and fell asleep for like 13 hours after this…
Day 4
- Tupelo Honey Cafe
- Wicked Weed Funkatorium
- Wedge Brewery
- The Bull and Beggar
- Catawaba Brewing Co.
Once again, we began the day at brunch. We built up Tupelo Honey Cafe in our minds for days which is why it probably didn’t live up to expectations. The Bloody Mary choices were the only notable mentions here. And maybe the honey biscuit. We ventured to Wicked Weed again which shows how much we loved it. Seriously, just a cool, fun bar. The beer is great and the staff know what they are talking about. If you are going to Asheville, you NEED to stop here. We then headed outside the city to Wedge Brewery. Which was in it’s own world. The boys kept comparing it to scenes from Mad Max. It was in a strip of bar and restaurants with sprawling, dry dirt and gravel behind it. Picnic tables were scattered through out. Much more rustic than the places we saw up to this point. The beer was good as all beers seem to be in Asheville. Following a few beers we headed to The Bull and Beggar–the real reason we were in Mad Max territory. We found this place after asking around, apparently it’s a little known Asheville staple. It doesn’t promote itself, relying on word of mouth alone. And it’s the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Smaller plates which worked perfectly with our big group for tasting purposes. The menu revolves so it’s different each time but the hushpuppies and pork rinds are consistent and you should get them. Long drive home the next day.
Traveled in May 2015
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