A DIY Brewery Tour, More Food, and Downtown Living at the 1889 Whitegate Inn in Asheville

On our last night in Asheville, we moved closer to downtown. To the B&B that’s located closest to downtown actually – the 1889 Whitegate Inn & Cottage. Because we’d planned to do a little DIY brewery tour! And by “planned,” I mean we decided to take the recommendations of everyone we’d spoken to thus far and attempt to hit as many of the best breweries in the city as we could before passing out. I know, what an honorable challenge to take on.

Brewery tours, if you even glance at TripAdvisor for a second, are one of the most popular activities in Asheville. The city is known for its beer. But most tours cost about $50 per person and hit four to five breweries, and I figured we could easily navigate downtown by ourselves, stopping to have a flight of beers at the breweries of our choosing for cheaper. Because honestly, I don’t really care how the beer is made – I just want to drink it!

And let me tell you, our personalized DIY brewery tour was a success! And it’s very doable on your own, as finding a brewery in Asheville is about the easiest thing you could do there.

But first, Sierra Nevada

It hadn’t been on the original list, but literally everybody we discussed our proposed brewery hop with told us that we MUST go to Sierra Nevada. It’s a little out of the way, but oh, so totally worth it. After our visit, we were also singing its praises. Seriously, go.

The place is a compound. It’s a giant facility, like an amusement park for adults. (As you drive up, you feel like you’re entering Busch Gardens.) The brewery is impressive, but we opted out of the 90 minute tour-and-tasting and after a brief self-guided walk through, we headed to the taproom. Holy wow. There are so many beers – much more than just the IPAs that they’re known for, thank God – and the food is fancy and phenomenal. Flights of four beer tastings are $6 and the small plates all look delicious. We opted for a flight and then a beer of our choosing each, along with the rabbit rarebit. Roasted rabbit on a crostini with melted mornay… at a bar? Yes.

It would be easy to spend a whole day here. I would’ve also liked to try the lamb tartare and the pork confit fries, but alas, we had to move on to the next one…

Our Downtown B&B!

Next, we had to check into our new room at the 1889 Whitegate Inn. Wow. Again, we were met with fancy digs in the upstairs of a historic old home. We had our own fireplace in the Robert Frost Room, not to mention the four poster bed, writing desk, and another clawfoot tub (plus a shower and double sinks)!

Not to be outdone, the downstairs contained another couple of fireplaces, a grand piano, chess, and amaretto for the guests. The sun room was filled with seating and uh, most importantly, tea and brownies. The backyard contained an outdoor area for chilling and a greenhouse where the owner grows prize-winning orchids.

Needless to say, we were feeling pretty fancy again.

Our DIY Brewery Tour Itinerary

After we’d been given the rundown of our new home, we set off on a quick five minute walk to Wicked Weed, another highly recommended brewery in Asheville… with dank food. And here I finally got my tartare.

They don’t do flights on the weekend, but our server was happy to bring us some tastings before we settled on a full-sized pint. From there, we bounced to the Funkatorium to meet some of Charlie’s friends who were also in town. It’s owned by Wicked Weed but contains some of their sour beers and barrel-aged, weirder stuff.

So then things started to get a little crazy. On the insistence of his friends, we were sent to Burial Beer Co. There we ran into some folks we’d had beers with earlier and chilled in the hip, rustic interior as it started to rain. Highlights of Burial included a very cool outdoor area (which would really be amazing in the summer) and the Skillet Donut Stout that Charlie ordered which was served with a doughnut!

From there we stumbled to Twin Leaf Brewery and grabbed tacos from the food truck parked out front. This place is huge! And it was really hoppin’ when we visited. We got a couple beers, listened to country jams, and watched a very intense game of giant Jenga. This might’ve been my favorite downtown stop of the day.

As I’m writing this, I cannot believe we made it to another brewery after that. Oh, but we did! I’m pretty sure we just ran right into Asheville Brewing Company on the way back into the heart of downtown. The evening becomes a bit blurry here, so all I can tell you about this place is that they serve pizza, Charlie bought a T-shirt, and the bartender kindly put up with us.

Though I had my heart set on having a dinner of Indian street food at Chai Pani, we’d become desperate for a television so that we could watch college basketball. We rounded out the night at the Bier Garden which had TVs on TVs, and then spent the second half of the game watching in our fancy bedroom beside the fire (my suggestion).

In hindsight, my main tip for any DIY brewery tour would be this:  Don’t forget to eat! These breweries really bring their A game when it comes to the quality of food they serve. We had small plates here and there in an effort to hold out for a big, fancy dinner that never came… and that we were in no shape for anyway. Still, I deem this brewery tour a raging success!!!

Another Ridiculously Good Dinner!

You guys, I forgot to tell you something. About my second dinner in Asheville. There was really no room for more food photos in my previous Asheville post, and I took so many pictures that I can’t bear not to share them with you.

One of the restaurants we visited on the food tour – Cucina 24 – was so great and given such high praises that we had to return. It also helped that Charlie ran into one of his high school friends who happened to work in their kitchen.

Again, we ordered way too much, but I regret nothing. The charcuterie plate was one of the best I’ve ever had and it even included rabbit liver pate. Oh, and it was so pretty.

We also had the eggs in spicy tomato sauce and the snapper crudo which were excellent. One of our favorites though, had to be the sweetbreads. God, they were like rich, crispy, grown-up chicken nuggets. And surrounded by a salad of frisse and brussels sprouts. Honestly, what the heck?! At the suggestion of our server we ended the meal with fried tuna collars and at Charlie’s suggestion, more brussels sprouts. So yeah, I’d go back to Cucina 24 in a heartbeat.

A Goodbye Breakfast…

I will never get over the idea of a multi-course breakfast. It just seems so decadent and unnecessary, and yet so totally wonderful. At the 1889 Whitegate Inn, all of the guests are served together at 9 AM, beautiful silverware and plates are used, and the service shows so much attention to detail.

We began with a chilled berry soup. While honestly this is the amount I’d usually have for my full breakfast, I’m not one to complain about being fed. On to the entree…

The chef made us a Southern take on huevos rancheros made pulled pork, butter beans, and a biscuit on the side.

And we finished it all off with a lychee panna cotta. Breakfast dessert? Don’t mind if I do.

One should really not be allowed this much good food in such a short period of time.

Asheville, I’ll be back to enjoy even more of you when the weather heats up!

I was a guest of the 1889 Whitegate Inn for one night in collaboration with Select Registry, but as always, all opinions are my own.

So that was my time in Asheville! Is it enough to convince you to visit?

(It should be.)