We just got back from a trip to Asheville, NC.  I first visited a few years ago for a conference, and liked it so much I dragged the family up the next Fall.  Now we think of it as visiting Autumn each year, as the 80° temperatures in Gainesville grind on through October and November.  It was nice to enjoy cooler temperatures, mountain vistas with the fall colors, and of course sample several new beers and a few old favorites.

There are a bunch of great restaurants to choose from — like Tupelo Honey Cafe, Mayfel’s, Jack of the Wood, 12 Bones, and Luella’s.  The barbeque in particular is divine, and typically comes with just a little dry-rub, fantastically tender and flavorful without sauce.  All the restaurants have a ton of local beer on tap.  Even the Biltmore has their own house beer now (though I suspect it’s contract-brewed since their website carefully avoids saying they brew it themselves).

The best new discovery was probably Pisgah’s Pale Ale.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big hop fan, and I find even most non-IPA pale ales to be over-hopped.  But this brew was nicely gentle, with a little sweetness like a cream ale.  Though I also enjoyed having Green Man ESB both at 12 Bones, and the cask version at Jack of the Wood — it’s always great to taste a beer both before and after cask treatment.  Though the cask version is dry-hopped and was right at my resiny bitterness tolerance, it definitely gave the beer some extra character.

Unfortunately, I failed on my attempt to not have the same beer twice — I broke down and had a second pint of French Broad’s Wee Heavy-er (definitely my favorite Asheville beer).  I also picked up a couple French Broad bottles at Bruisin’ Ales — along with a few of the beers I’d been trying to find for my Belgian Research Project, but hadn’t been able to find locally yet.