OT- Tailgating Tech - Asheville, NC Beer City USA

Asheville
April is Beer Month for NC.

I'm working out how to cover cities where we'll be having away games. We'll have 7 this year so I need to get it worked out.

Asheville, NC is a big beer town in a small package. Named Beer City USA several times in succession they lost the title last year to a city in Michigan.
An industry buddy tells me there are 13 breweries or brewpubs in Asheville plus 4 in progress. Asheville claims the highest number of breweries per capita than anywhere else in The U.S., about 8000 persons per brewery.

I will hit on a few here but no in-depth reviews, this will be more like a tour book.

Asheville Brewing Company is a brewpub that is a pizzeria located in what looks like an old car dealership or distributing company of some kind. The building has both a nice indoor seating and a very large covered patio that has outdoor games you might find at a tailgate. Each time I've been here the service has been great. Dog friendly and kid friendly, this is a good stop for casual, they have good pizza and some other food, they are open starting for lunches. They keep about 10 beers on tap, their porter recently won Gold medal at the National Craft Brewers Conference in Denver this month. Growlers to go.

Wicked Weed is a new brewery, I have not been there before. We stopped briefly last night but, I was impressed. They have a tasting room downstairs which is Very casual and a nicely appointed dining room and beer garden upstairs. They open at 3pm and had an imaginative and well executed series of beers that seemed to total about a dozen from sours to blondes. Nice mix, there will be something for most beer drinkers here. Tuesday is cask conditioned day. 5pm they tap a new cask. Prices were very affordable with most beer available in 10 oz and pints. I'm not sure the legality of talking actual prices on a blog so suffice it to say their high end beers were about what a regular beer would cost in Roanoke. Dog friendly in the beer garden and kid friendly, the place was packed on a nice Monday night. A good packed though, we easily found room to stretch out and there are a sprinkling of nicely done standing tables outside. Growlers and bottles of lambics/sours to go. I'll add more about the menu later, we plan on dinner there tonight.
Edit: was there for dinner. They have 21 beers on tap. Good place. Sours were good and on the mild side of sour.

Lunch at LAB Lexington Ave Brewery. Pub in downtown that has a cool garage-like patio. It's railing and we're at the outside rail. Beer is much improved and food is quite good. Service is good food prices a bit high but the attempt to do the very high end food is the reason. Opens for lunch. Growlers to go.

Pisgah Brewing Co. - Pisgah is organic certified. Located 20 minutes outside town off I40, Pisgah is consistently one of the best breweries in the East. 15 beers on tap in a real tasting rm, converted warehouse in a office park. This is a no frills joint. Kid friendly and dog friendly. Good beer, inexpensive, regular food trucks and live music. They also make a soda- root beer. Worth the trip out of town. Outside food welcomed.

Not many brewpubs open for lunch. Midweek they seem to open at 3-4.
Must stop by Thirsty Monk for a pint-O
- bacon
Also planning on hitting Wedge brewing tonight.

This will be a progressive post throughout the week.

Drink responsibly and do not drink and drive.