On Jan. 1, Christopher Arbor and his friends pledged to visit one Asheville brewery each week for all of 2025 in the order that they opened, then share the experience with Mountain Xpress readers. To read about their recent visit to One World Brewing, visit avl.mx/eo6.
If you don’t have the time, interest or valor to visit all of Asheville’s breweries, you can find a boatload of them represented in our fantastically well-stocked local bottle shops.
And … and! … as many local breweries as there are, they’re only the tip of the beer-berg. What if I told you that there are over 1,000 breweries in the Asheville area? That could be the case once you factor in all the brewing happening in people’s homes.
That’s right, folks. This one’s for the bottle shops and homebrewers.
This year, my birthday fell on a Wednesday, so I rerouted our yearlong brewery crawl to my house, where I lured my friends in with the promise of some extravagant local ales and my mediocre homebrew.
I’d stopped by the Local 604 Bottle Shop. While there are other fine shops in Asheville, this one’s my go-to because of its focus on regional breweries. It has hundreds of beers from nearly 100 breweries, plus mead, cider, sake and wine. I picked up several four-packs for a beer swap.
If you’re not familiar with a beer swap, it’s a pretty simple but compelling idea. Everyone shows up with something interesting or rare, adds it to the cooler, and at the end of the evening, guests take home the leftovers. Attendees essentially go home with a variety pack.
On tap, made by yours truly, was an IPA and an oatmeal stout, both of which I brewed from kits picked up at Asheville Brewers Supply, a place that’s been around as long as the oldest breweries in town. I had added fenugreek to the stout — a clever trick to give it a maple flavor, since any added maple syrup would just ferment out. The IPA mimics Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale; it’s called Hell’s No-Hearted.
My friends sauntered up my driveway and settled in for an evening of conversation and camaraderie. If I were giving out an award for Best Bringer of Beer, it would go to David Stavros, who brought a beer from Weihenstephaner, the world’s oldest brewery.
How old, you ask? I’ll give you a hint: It’s older than me, older than the United States, older even than the Norman conquest of England back in 1066. David, by the way, is the kind of guy who is always showing up with something interesting, whether it’s a food item or topic for conversation.
Best Guest Prize would go to Luke Heller. Ever been prepping food during a party and some well-intentioned person wants to chat with you while you’re clearly busy? And then there’s the opposite — the person who shows up in the kitchen and with minimal verbal interaction intuits what you need to do and supports you in doing it? That’s Luke, able to quickly and easily establish what Wendell Berry calls a “sympathy of body.”
Good beer and good friends. What more could a birthday boy ask for?
On a final note, if you’re a homebrewer (or homebrewing-curious) seeking wisdom and community, check out the Mountain Ale and Lager Tasters (MALT) group at avl.mx/eoy or on Facebook.
Come join us on another adventure. We gather at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Email me at yearinbeerasheville@gmail.com or just show up.
April 9: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
April 16: Mills River Brewing
