Hi and Bye, Asheville

Asheville, it’s been real. I’m sad to say that the inauguration of this blog has to coincide with our departure from this hip little city. But the plus side is you get to hear about all the cool things this little city has to offer. I can see why it makes so many lists of places to come visit on day trips.

First, the beer. Even if you don’t like beer, this city has no shortage of watering holes producing some of the most interesting concoctions east of the Mississippi. If you ask me, visiting breweries is the best excuse to get to know different parts of the city. The first place we got to know was just across the water from the River Arts District is perhaps the most monumental brewery in the central part of Asheville, New Belgium. Try their unique barrel aged Belgian pours, even if you are not trying to act sophisticated, the glass they are poured in will betray your efforts. That, and, they are delicious.

The next brewery I fell in love with was Burial. Unlike NB, they have a kitchen serving up some fine dining level grub amidst a low key industrial setting with some of the more entertaining murals around the city. Which says something considering all the fine public art around.

Third up is the Funkatorium. The setting might be the more blasé of the bunch, but the stouts here more than make up for that. Wicked Weed is distributed by Anheuser-Busch, which is a shame because that means some of their more experimental don’t get the credit they deserve.

My last recommendation is Zillicoah Brewery. Their location is a bit further out from downtown, but they take full advantage of the beauty the French Broad river provides by making a more informal and rustic setting replete with hammocks and a firepit. The beers there are solid, but the Taqueria Munoz food truck with perhaps the most authentic Mexican food in Asheville, rounds out this location nicely.

There are countless other breweries which despite our best efforts, we are most certainly not going to get to. I guess we’ll just have to come back. I’ll mention just a few of the beers I’ve tried that are worth coming back to: Boojum, Asheville Pizza and Brewing, Rye Knot, Hi-Wire, Ginger’s Revenge, Highlands, and I certainly can’t forget DSSLVR.

By the way this reads so far this sounds like a months long brew party. But the purpose this Blog is mostly about work. There is plenty of work around Asheville, especially if you work in the service industry or the arts. Fortunately for me, I hooked up with cool cat who was opening an art/clothing shop and needed some help setting things up. This niche industry seems like the way to go if you are thinking of setting up here for a prolonged stay. Unfortunately for us, since we were just here for a shorter stay, I had to keep things at a more portable scale, which meant working on finish carpentry and drywall.

The work down here was steady and the people were wonderful. I can’t express how grateful I am for the folks that I worked with. As a small scale contractor, my only regret is that I wasn’t able to contribute to the lack of housing inventory in the city. The steep mountain surroundings seem to present geological obstacles to the challenge of city planning.

This brings me full circle to the last part I loved about my time in Asheville. It’s got a great little cycling culture. Despite the obstacles to city planning, it does provide some excellent climbing rides within a stones throw from the city center. I didn’t think I would appreciate the climbing given my preternatural disdain for that particular discipline, but once you get a solid climb under your belt, it gets slightly more appealing. One message to city planners: please install more bike racks. You are a only a bike-friendly-ish city until then.