Asheville Beer by Anne Fitten Glenn

Author:Anne Fitten Glenn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

The exterior of Barley’s Pizzeria & Taproom, one of Asheville’s first bars to offer multiple craft and imported beers on draft. Photo by Anne Fitten Glenn.

When the taproom first opened, there weren’t many craft beers available. What Barley’s did have back then were nine taps and some bottles of craft beers, including Pete’s Wicked Ale and drafts from now defunct breweries such as Blind Man of Athens, Georgia, and Dilworth Brewing of Charlotte. Barley’s also regularly offered imports such as Guinness, Harp and Spaten.

As more breweries started to open in the ’90s, Barley’s added more taps, including French Broad, SweetWater (Atlanta), Cottonwood (Boone) and Thomas Creek (Greenville, South Carolina). As Barley’s beer selection grew, the focus shifted toward offering regional brews for several years. Barley’s opened its upstairs taproom and pool hall a few years after the restaurant opened on the street level. Then the partners decided to expand. Jimi and Doug opened a Barley’s in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1998, and one in Knoxville, Tennessee, soon after that. Then one opened in Spindale, North Carolina. Those restaurants are now all independently owned, though they still share the same moniker.

“We negotiated with area distributors to get Highland, Catawba and other local beers in our restaurants in South Carolina and Tennessee before those beers formally were distributed there,” Jimi said. “We wanted our beers there.”

Jimi bought Doug out a few years ago, when Doug moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, to start a new business. Now Jimi focuses on complementing his wide selection of regional and North Carolina beers with a wide diversity of U.S. brews. “There are so many local beers and so many restaurants and bars that carry local beers that, while we still have a huge regional selection, we’re going out and finding the best of the best beers and putting them on tap,” he said.

Too many beer bars to name now call Asheville home, from the Thirsty Monk to Pack’s Tavern to Universal Joint to Westville Pub to Jack of the Wood and more. Many of them, even the ones with only six or eight taps, regularly host suds-soaked events such as cask tappings, pint nights, tap takeovers and beer celebrity visits.

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