Craft beer in Asheville
Mountain South beer capital
Asheville sits at the spiritual center of Southern craft beer — a small mountain city with disproportionate beer cred. Sierra Nevada chose Asheville for their East Coast brewery in 2014, anchoring an already-deep local scene that now spans 50+ breweries across the metro area.
Breweries Tracked
2
Specialty
West Coast IPAs, mixed-fermentation sours, German lagers
Hub Neighborhood
South Slope, River Arts District
How Asheville shaped American craft beer
Highland Brewing opened in 1994 as the first legal post-Prohibition NC brewery. Wicked Weed followed in 2012 and rapidly drew national attention with their barrel-aged sour program (acquired by AB InBev in 2017). Burial Beer (2013) and Hi-Wire (2013) emerged from the same year — Burial focused on West Coast IPAs with a metal-music aesthetic, Hi-Wire built around German lager precision. Sierra Nevada's massive Mills River brewery (opened 2014) made Asheville a national distribution hub. The 2015 'Beer City USA' Examiner.com poll put Asheville on the map four years running.
Where to visit in Asheville
Tasting Room HighlightsBurial's South Slope flagship for West Coast IPAs in a converted church. Hi-Wire Big Top in the South Slope for lagers. Wicked Weed's funkatorium for the sour barrel program. The South Slope has 10+ breweries in walking distance. Bhramari Brewhouse for experimental beers. The Bull and Beggar in River Arts for a serious beer bar.
Common date code formats from Asheville breweries
MM/DD/YY
2 breweries