Are you, like me, a lover of the funkiest of beers? Craving something sour from the cellar, or wondering why beer is aged in oak when it's not wine? This guide is for you. 🍻

Why purchase this guide? It features a few local favorites that we keep secret on purpose 🙃. Plus! Some beer facts that will help you understand what the heck I mean by "funky."

Western North Carolina, NC, USA

Asheville, NC, USA

Black Mountain, NC, USA

Weird Beer Tour of Asheville, NC 

If you're venturing east of Asheville for an outdoor adventure, squeeze this farm brewery destination onto your itinerary. A Blue Ridge Parkway hike followed by one of their terroir inspired projects? Yes!

Asheville is lucky to house New Belgium's second headquarters.  

Asheville's grungy, creative neighborhood has plenty of beer to match.

Cellarest is just a year old, and they're leading Asheville's beer scene into historically weird and wacky techniques. I'd recommend: anything on the menu.

This is a tiny Belgian-inspired operation run by a husband and wife. Their beers are all bottled and incredibly innovative. Plus, Weaverville is a cute little town!

The Whale distinguishes itself in the Asheville beer scene by stocking beers from outside the Asheville beer scene. I know, I know, you came to drink local, but their tap list features some of the best breweries in the country. Like Jester King. 

Zillicoah is the one we keep from the tourists. Every Asheville beer person's favorite beer to drink. Shhhhh.

Wild yeast, named Brett. And by that I mean the scientific name is Brettanomyces. This is a yeast that lives primarily on fruit skins, and when it gets into your beer it won't stop fermenting the sugars until it has done some witchcraft. Your resulting brew will have notes of "barnyard," hay or leathery  funk, almost like a potent cheese. In more pleasant terms, brett also generates grapefruit and grilled pineapple notes.

New Belgium has *65* foeders (giant oak barrels) and each contains a unique mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria.

Skip their classic Fat Tire (although it's delicious) in favor of their sour menu at this taproom, which is unlike anything you'll find anywhere else. 

Bacteria! Don't worry, the good kind, aka the ones in your probiotic pills. Specifically, lactobacillus and pediococcus are the bacteria brewers use to lower a beer's pH into the sour category (about 3.5-4.5 on the scale).

Same deal with this one^^ run by a single couple and a bunch of goats. 

Southern Appalachia is all about craft, beer included. These gems are hiding in the mountains.

Weird Beer Tour of Asheville, NC

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