The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [164]
KEY BEER
Pisgah’s hazy orange organic Pale Ale (5.5% ABV) is the perfect pizza beer: crisp, a touch sweet, and finishing with enough bitter bite to stand up to the zip of the sauce and meats.
THE THIRSTY MONK
92 Patton Ave. • Asheville, NC 28801 (828) 254–5470 • monkpub.com • Established: 2008
SCENE & STORY
The first thing you’ll notice about the Monk, provided it’s daylight, is that the outside of the bar is painted a funny color: purple. Then you enter the place by way of a long ramp, which seems a bit odd, and drop into a narrow space with cream walls and high ceilings. And there you are: one of the more recent additions to the Asheville scene, the Thirsty Monk happens to be one of the best in the country, with 44 taps and 220 bottles of American and Belgian craft specialties. The deep and thoughtful beer list is complemented by innovative beer-friendly foods sourced from local purveyors including farm lamb, bakery breads, cheese, mustard, and trout, which provides for smoked trout sandwiches. It’s a happy and bright place with a steady stream of special events, brewer appearances, and other beer-centric gatherings. A second location, nicknamed Monk South by locals, opened in the Gerber Village shopping center in late 2009 with its own 30 tap/200 bottle combination.
PHILOSOPHY
Belgian-style beers and hospitality with Southern soul.
KEY BEER
If the Monk’s house beer is available, order it. Otherwise start with a palate cleansing SweetWater Road Trip, a 5.3% ABV German-style Pilsner, then wade into a Gnomegang, a 9.5% ABV collaboration beer made by New York’s Ommegang with La Chouffe of Belgium that is rich, complex, citrusy, spicy, and earthy all at once.
The BREWGRASS FESTIVAL
Held each year on the third weekend of September in the big grassy expanse of Asheville’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Park (the 2011 event is the fifteenth annual), the Brewgrass festival draws around 120 selections from forty top-tier craft breweries—including regional favorites like Pisgah, Catawba Valley, and Nantahala Brewing Company. Those liquid treasures accompany and celebrate a world-class lineup of bluegrass bands from the old-school masters like J. D. Crowe and Norman Blake to high-intensity jamgrass acts like the Yonder Mountain String Band. Time to break out the tie-dye and sandals. brewgrassfestival.com
PACK’S TAVERN
20 S. Spruce St. • Asheville, NC 28801–3745 (828) 225–6944 • packstavern.com • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
Just a couple of blocks east of Barley’s taproom, the Hayes and Hopson building (a historic property on Asheville’s Pack Square Park) has housed merchants of lumber, auto parts, barbecue, and most notoriously moonshine, but today the newly renovated structure contains a classy-casual beer-focused eatery. The interior is airy, spacious, and decked out with comforts like church pews in the waiting area, plush leather banquettes, and cool tile floors under the bar.
PHILOSOPHY
There are some thirty or more local, national, and international craft beers, and the owners have pledged to work with area brewers to tap one-off and other limited quantity releases, such as recent cask night with Victory Brewing Company of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The draft list features the latest from Craggie, Highland, and French Broad Brewing (all from Asheville) in addition to a good but not pointlessly large selection of other crafts (and a few macros to boot).
KEY BEER
Look for Craggie’s Toubab Brewe, a slightly tangy 4.2% ABV kellerbier (unfiltered lager) that would pair well with much of the pub grub on offer.
SWEET SPOT
Don’t leave town without hitting Tupelo Honey Café (12 College St., 828–255–4683; tupelohoneycafe.com) for their signature dish, a large buttermilk pancake flavored with cinnamon and sweet potatoes, topped with whipped peach butter and spiced pecans. Tip: Add Grandma’s Maple Granola for extra crunch. Your waistline may not thank you, but