Thirsty Monk Pub… a place for the beer snob… ;)

The place is Asheville, NC which is a mountain town in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. The town is not much unlike those in the mountains of Colorado filled with young outdoors oriented intellectuals pursuing the American dream. We were in Asheville on a cold spring day on our way to Nashville, TN. After stopping in Asheville we were walking around the downtown area and we came across the Thirsty Monk Pub.

Now I have a weak spot for pubs so we walked and checked it out. You will find quite a selection of many locally crafted brews at this nice little no-frills pub. Not only will you find a wide assortment of craftsman beers you will find an eclectic group of locals who claim to be beer connoisseurs. You can watch them get a “flight of beer” (six glasses of 3-6 oz. of six different beers) and then they will sniff them, inhaling deeply, sip them and then swish the beer around much like the wine snobs do…

They claim to be the beer city of the USA but they are actually tied with Portland, Oregon for the title. I will admit however they have quite the assortment of craft beers on tap. Two beers I can recommend are the Green Man IPA (6.2% alcohol and quite tasty) and a Craggy Toubab Brew (a Bavarian style Zwickel beer at 4.2%) which was very mellow in flavor.

The following quote from an article in Xmountain Xpress… “Asheville’s craft-beer scene dates back to 1994, when Highland Brewing Co. set up shop in downtown Asheville. Since then, Asheville Pizza & Brewing, French Broad Brewing, Green Man Ales, Pisgah Brewing and Wedge Brewing have followed suit.” Besides these there is also the OysterHouse Brewery and two fairly new breweries - Craggie Brewing and Lexington Avenue Brewing.

If you are a “beer snob” or just like a well crafted beer then this is a Road Treat for you…