Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria

Turns out Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria in Asheville NC is the one place to stop in Asheville if you're gonna stop at all. Just like Jamie said.

It will be extremely easy to find yourself staying way too long and enjoying yourself way too much.

An extensive selection of tasty local beers. Friendly people (and barmaid). Very good pizza.

Best part of every day.

Musings on Ales and Hop Flavor and Aroma

Being from NEPA I regularly enjoy local brews like Weyerbacher Hops Infusion and Double Simcoe IPA; Victory Hop Devil, Hop Wallop> and the seasonal Yakima Twilight; Dogfish Head 60 and 90 minute I.P.A; Troegs Nugget Nectar and more recently Stoudt's American Pale Ale.

These beers are similar with respect to the intensity of hop-forward aroma and taste, and also similar to the west cost ``hoppy'' ales like Bear Republic's Racer 5, Lagunitas Hop Stupid, Stone, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, and other beers of that ilk.

But after visiting Barley's and Jack of the Wood in Asheville and Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, and trying some let's say mid-south or Appalachian or just simply North Carolina beers, I came to the realization that there's another different and excellent take on hoppy brews bearing a pale ale or india pale ale style.

I had Hoppyum IPA, Seeing Double IPA, and a Pilot Mountain Pale Ale at Foothills; Green Man IPA at Jack of the Wood; and French Broad Brewery's Rye Hopper and Pisgah Brewing Company's Organic Pale Ale at Barley's.

And later in Memphis I had a Yazoo Pale Ale and Schlafly Dry-Hopped APA from Nashville and St. Louis respectively. These were more hop-forward and in similar in intensity to east and west coast hoppy ales.

So basically, I book-ended a few North Carolina beers with beers from the mid-west and my familiar east and west coast hoppy beers.

What did I learn?
My totally non-scientific conclusion is that if you're coming from an east or west coast hoppy ale mindset, you will find some of these styles of beers from the North Carolina area of the country, different. Wow, big revelation, no?

These beers are great in their own right however and are not to be dismissed. What makes them great are the more subtle hop-forward aroma and flavor. This makes them highly sessionable as they don't have the ``burn'' of the more hop-forward beers which sometimes, a pint is all one can handle. The bitterness is there all right, giving them that fantastic dryness that is hard to beat when it's hot.

Bravo!

Foothills Brewing

I left City Beverage with a six-pack of local NC brews to take back to PA and mused on the great times and the host of new and interesting friends made at Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem. You know, I have not yet happened upon, during this de Tour, a nicer bunch of fellow beer drinker lads and lasses! I feel blessed in this sense. Thank you!

Wow! A whole section of the beer cooler devoted to NC brews. H, J, and M were not joshing when they said they had the best selection around. AND, mix and match to fill a six-pack. You like that? You like that?? I know I do. Egggggggggssssssaaaaaaaaaaaalentttttttttt!

The Hoppiest Fellow on Earth and his wife were kind to give me directions to City Beverage which were spot on. Rain? Not a problem. I'm floating on a velvet sea of beer foam!

Met the brewmaster Jamie, the nicest fellow--props to you and your guys on your World Beer Cup medal for Sexual Chocolate Imperial Porter. M and J implore me to backtrack east and visit Natty Greene's in Greensboro before I had west again; Jamie advises if you must do one place in Asheville make it Barley's and the Green Man; Hoppiest Fellow's wife says Bluegrass if you make it to Kentucky and the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville is good too. When do I have to be back at work? Next year?

Is it raining outside? Who knows, but the taps are raining beer in here!

Did you say you home brewed? These immortal words ushered a new era of north-south beer relations and it was with these words that I introduced myself to M and J at the bar and we proceeded to spend the next two hours ruminating over beers drank and yet to be drank--barleywines and double I.P.As a favorite of M, the merits of floral and herbal hops, home brewing, beer visits, tours, crawls and such.



Through the front doors awaits a spacious (30' x 30') dining room with a wood floor. The original wall to the left is brick. Straight through the dining room to the back though awaits the real treasure: A high trussed-ceiling taproom with what must be a 40' bar running down almost the entire length of the left wall with the brewery beyond that behind glass windows. There must be space for at least 20 beer drinking stools at the bar. The bar-top is constructed of laminated maple strips and must be 30 inches wide and sports a large Chicago-style bar rail. The back bar is impressive: a lower section of storage spans the length of the bar; at bar-height three wide sections delineated by square columns constructed of what looks to be cherry house deep shelves for glassware and liquor, also spanning the length of the bar. An impressive mirror dominates the center section of the back bar etched with Foothills Brewing. AND, crowing each end section and extending to the ceiling are wine lattice with storage for perhaps 300 wine bottles. WoW!

The Foothills Brewing building was at one time a Plymouth car dealership. After that a garage and a night club just prior to being converted to a brewery.

The day began overcast with scattered beer showers and stayed that way most of the day across North Carolina.