This is prime tourism season. But if you’re coming up to the Asheville area to visit a brewery to take a tour, it pays to have a plan first. There are a lot of ways to visit a brewery in Western North Carolina, some free, others for a charge.
Asheville is famous for its breweries, and there’s a cluster of seven of them on and off downtown’s Coxe Avenue along what is known as the South Slope brewing district. Any of them can be visited for free, but for fans who want more, there are several choices.
Two of these breweries – the famous Funkatoriuim, 147 Coxe Ave., and its nearby neighbor Burial Beer Co., 40 Collier Ave., have just started their own tour service offering up-close, behind-the-scenes visits. These tours are offered Thursday-Saturday: $12 with beer samples, $8 without. Make reservations or get more information at southslopebrewerytours.com.
From there, it’s easy to pop over to see any of the other South Slope brewers: Green Man, Twin Leaf, Asheville Brewing, Hi-Wire, and the newest player, Catawba.
Across town, Asheville’s first craft brewery, Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Highway, offers free tours each afternoon (www.highlandbrewing.com/brewery-tours). Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard has free tours at 4 p.m. daily or 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Sierra Nevada Brewery in Mills River has free tours but you must register first online at http://www.sierranevada.com/brewery/north-carolina/brewery-tour. These tours are often booked solid far ahead.
Several tour services offer brewery visits. Asheville Brews Cruise has a variety of bus and walking brewery tours at http://ashevillebrewscruise.com. The fee is $57, which includes three or four breweries and beer samples.
Asheville Brewery Tours offer guided van or walking visits to many area breweries for $59, or $45 for the Sierra plant. Make reservations at http://ashevillebrewerytours.com.
The BREW-ed brewery tours promise knowledgeable walking tours of the breweries led by a certified cicerone beer expert. The cost is $50 and tours are offered Friday-Sunday or by request. Reserve at www.brew-ed.com/brewerytoursofasheville.
A new player is the Lazoom Band and Beer Bus Tour, which visits the Highland, Altamont and Wedge breweries with a live band aboard the colorful bus. Lazoom has long been a quality tour service with a hip, playful edge. The cost is $29. www.lazoomtours.com/tours.
Or you can hop aboard the Amazing Pub Cycle, which rolls around to various watering holes in Asheville. This contraption is arguably the most creative conveyance in town. There are 13 seats (10 of them with pedals), but a motor helps move the thing over Asheville’s hilly streets. Make reservations at http://amazingpubcycle.com.
Rockin’ new stout
RJ Rockers in Spartanburg will release its Good Boy Stout with a party from 3-7:30 p.m. June 19, with bottles on sale at 5 p.m. The brew was aged in whiskey barrels for eight months. The brewery is at 226-A West Main St. in Spartanburg.
Follow Beer Guy Tony Kiss on Facebook at Carolina Beer Guy or Twitter at BeerGuyTK
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