Craft Beer - No Pizza

The lovely Rebecca and I having just returned from a Beer-Cation in the wilds of the western N.C. mountains as well as back to back Rockin and Rollin weekends in Cleveland have had AMPLE opportunity to sample several...OK around 40...different brews from a couple...OK, 12 or 13 different breweries in the past several...OK just 2...weeks. Some observations:

When I was growing up and spending summers visiting family in western NC you could not BUY a beer anywhere in the county (hmmmm...kinda like parts of Kentucky now)...Now, the area has one of the most awesome craft beer scenes anywhere in the country. To my particular liking is the fact that the "Gigantic-Humongous-Big Beer" and/or the "Hey-you-got-raspberry-in-my-beer-no-you-got-beer-in-my-raspberry" craze/mindset doesn't seem to be as common amongst the brewers. The other thing we noticed was that a LOT of the craft beer, maybe even the majority is sold in CANS. The proprietors I spoke to attributed this to the overall environmental attitude in the area (easier to recycle) as well as the "pack it in - pack it out" requirement for outdoor enthusiasts. Curious if anyone sees either of these trends taking hold here ?

Our visits to Cleveland the past two weekends also gave us time to sample a variety of brews not available here in Kentuckiana...Of particular note were the beers from Fat Heads Brewery (an AWESOME IPA and Pale Ale) and The Brew Kettle. Unfortunately I've gotta say that we sampled as many "MEH" beers in Cleveland as we did great beers. It would appear that some folks in that area are more concerned with coming up with an cool name and an interesting label as they are with what goes in the glass...Probably not the only place in the country guilty of such crimes, just that we noticed it more up there.

Did you make it to WEDGE in Asheville?

Hi Heather! Is the WEDGE a beer store where we can purchase growlers or six packs? WE are driving through Asheville on our way to Charleston, SC for Thanksgiving. My boyfriend has heard of few must stop spots to purchase beers...Thanks!

Did you make it to WEDGE in Asheville?

No, unfortunately we did not...This time around we only had one full day/night in Asheville before heading up into the mountainous hinterlands. Not to say we didn't put every hour of that one day visit to use though Basically, what we did this time around was to fill the car with bottles and cans of local beer, ride up to our cabin way (way) back up in the mountains where we ate, drank and stayed merry for 5 days.

Hi Heather! Is the WEDGE a beer store where we can purchase growlers or six packs? WE are driving through Asheville on our way to Charleston, SC for Thanksgiving. My boyfriend has heard of few must stop spots to purchase beers...Thanks!

It's a brewery in the river arts district. They have growlers, but no bottles or cans.

My brother lives in Asheville - and is definitely a beer lover to say the least. His word is "The Wedge, Highland and Pisgah are the best breweries in town and they all have bars at the breweries. French Broad is pretty good too. As far as stores go, he says "Hops & Vines" and "Bruisin Ales" are the best bet. And if you want a bar - "Thirsty Monk"!

Steve - what were some of your favorites??

A beer-cation. That's so cool! That's like a dream come true. Steve, what did you have to do to get your wife to go along with this? Or did she even know that the real purpose of this "vacation" was to find and drink wonderful beers? She probably thought you were going to enjoy a romantic trip in the mountains right? Ha, good thinking man!

I always try to suggest that we go somewhere to check out a national landmark or shop at some great new mega shoe store, or visit a museum for educational purposes. She always knows though. Her reply; "let me guess there's a brewery or a pub there you want to try." Oh man....

After 29 years there's no fooling her!

Did you get any Sweet Water IPA? Damn some guys have all the luck. You got Pappy and beer-cation.

That's so NOT FAIR!

Steve - what were some of your favorites??

We really enjoyed the "vibe" at Jack of the Wood but kinda-sorta wish the place didn't smell like "fryer grease" We really enjoyed the beers at Lexington Ave Brewery (LAB) but the "scene" was a bit young for us ...No big deal, lots of friendly young people willing to give up there bar stools for the old couple. Barley's was one of our favorite stops, a nice selection of local brews and a really friendly atmosphere. Truthfully...it was a "pub crawl" kinda night in Asheville and I'm a wee bit hazy on a couple of the other places we went. Suffice it to say a good time was had by all and we are planning to do it again ASAP.

As for beer...We were QUITE fond of the Hoppy-Yum put out by Foothills brewing in Winston Salem...honestly though, there were probably 5 or 6 beers that pegged my meter on this trip, I've just got to remember what they were

Steve, what did you have to do to get your wife to go along with this?

Dude....She-drinks-me-under-the-table. ........Just sayin'.

Did you get any Sweet Water IPA? Damn some guys have all the luck. You got Pappy and beer-cation.

That's so NOT FAIR!

....Man, Some of the Sweetwater stuff was amongst my Favs when we set out on this expedition (e.g. Sweetwater 420) and I still love the stuff but I've gotta say I found 5 or 6 beers I like better. Now i've just got to remember what they were.

My husband & I did a weekend beer vacation in Asheville this past summer and loved it. The only package store we hit was Bruisin' Ales which had a fairly good selection. Really liked Wedge and Asheville Brewing Co. I thought the Thirsty Monk was okay. Decent American craft selection upstairs and Belgians downstairs. We really liked Barley because it had roughly 20 taps of local and regional beers and pretty tasty pizza. Liked the beer at LAB, but agree with Steve about the crowd and we are young. Just a little too trendy for a brewery.
And we did other things that didn't involve beer too, though it doesn't sound like it.

"" The other thing we noticed was that a LOT of the craft beer, maybe even the majority is sold in CANS. The proprietors I spoke to attributed this to the overall environmental attitude in the area (easier to recycle) as well as the "pack it in - pack it out" requirement for outdoor enthusiasts. Curious if anyone sees either of these trends taking hold here ? "

There is a big debate in the industy when it comes to canning. Lost of ins outs and whathaveyous to be considered. Aluminum is very recyclable, but so is glass. Aluminum allows no light in, but is harder to purge of oxygen on small Craft Brewers sized systems. One brewer pointed out that aluminum mines are very environmentally nasty places, sand for glass not so much. The biggest drawback for small brewers has been one must buy a tractor trailer full of cans for each beer label you sell. That would take a long time to work through and take a lot of space. Yet another is that in cans you are essentially drinking out of plastic since cans are lined with pet plastic, same stuff they use in 2 liter sodas. I still prefer glass at this point for portability, stainless steel keg is the best.

"
There is a big debate in the industy when it comes to canning. Lost of ins outs and whathaveyous to be considered. Aluminum is very recyclable, but so is glass. Aluminum allows no light in, but is harder to purge of oxygen on small Craft Brewers sized systems. One brewer pointed out that aluminum mines are very environmentally nasty places, sand for glass not so much. The biggest drawback for small brewers has been one must buy a tractor trailer full of cans for each beer label you sell. That would take a long time to work through and take a lot of space. Yet another is that in cans you are essentially drinking out of plastic since cans are lined with pet plastic, same stuff they use in 2 liter sodas. I still prefer glass at this point for portability, stainless steel keg is the best.

Hey Joel,

I've been very interested in this issue for a while now. I started drinking some craft beer in cans maybe only a year or so ago and I was absolutely delighted at how much more like draft beer it tasted. I've mentioned this to some brewers/retailers and some of the issues you brought up (eg cost for truckload, no light effecting taste) were common themes in their replies. Didn't know about the plastic liner.

I personally did not think I would ever prefer canned beer vs bottle beer as I associated canned beer with macro brews. Enough said there. However, some of the best craft brewers now provide their product in cans. Sun King in Indianapolis, Boulder Brewing, and one of my favorites 21st Amendment in San Fran.

Now I am a proponent of recycling and I'm environmentally conscious but not fanatical. The point you make about the mines is a good one. The fact that glass is so recyclable seems to be ignored in this area. Yes there are collection points for glass but really some of these bottles are freakin works of art yet as far as I know there is no effort made to recycle them. Don't say Growlers here. Yes they may have their place but I've never been a big drinker at home (gasp) hard to believe I know. Growlers are too short term storage-wise to provide any usefulness to me. If I go in your place I might drink three beers. But coming to your place is why I'm drinking those beers. RB wrote an incredibly insightful article recently at Louisvillebeer.com and expressed this concept so perfectly that I wanted to hug him (but as I've never met him he might not appreciate it).

This lack of recycling of beer bottles seems such a shame really. When I lived in the northeast, many bottled/canned products carried a deposit that you paid at the register and then received back when you returned the empties. All of the grocery stores had machines that crushed your cans/bottles and gave you a ticket you redeemed instantly at the register. It takes a lot more effort to recycle here.

But I will tell you now. If you or any local brewer (coop) can come up with a way to recycle your bottles or use cans in an environmentally responsible manner I would instantly commit to drinking your beers vs those that don't. I believe many others would too. Its a win – win right? Drinking delicious beer and being responsible. Of course that's easy for me to say. Much harder to implement from the brewer's standpoint. Still with the creative minds in play here (brewers) I can't believe that the challenges can't be overcome eventually.

Been drinking BBC Brown Ale at the Fireside, Pale Ale at Smash Burger, and Amber Ale at the Blue River Cafe recently. On tap!

Cheers Joel and thanks for bringing this up.