One of my favorite things about living in Charlotte, is that we are a pretty reasonable drive to many other cool spots. Asheville and Boone are only about 2 hours away and NC or SC beaches are only about 3-4 hours away. I love being able to day trip to the mountains or take a spontaneous weekend trip to the beach.
I’ve spent one day every year in Hendersonville, North Carolina apple picking with my family, but surprisingly had not spent any time in Asheville. So last fall after a morning of apple picking with my family, Andrew and I decided to spend the afternoon at the Sierra Nevada Brewery right outside of Asheville.
Neither one of us is really a beer drinker so I can’t recommend any beers or describe their flavor profile because I honestly have no clue. I do remember being quite fond of a Porter that tasted like beer + chocolate + coffee; a combination I could not resist.
We nursed a few beers during the time we were there, but we were more interested in exploring the property. Sierra Nevada is by far the most gorgeous brewery I have ever laid eyes on. We stumbled our way through a self-guided tour, got lost, died laughing, and took more pictures than I could ever share on one blog post.
I studied Sustainability in my MBA program so in total nerd fashion I spent the whole tour completely in awe of the sustainable practices of the brewery. The property features a sophisticated solar panel system, rain water collection, and CO2 recovery – just to name a few sustainable practices.
After deciding that we had learned everything we could possibly learn about how they make their beer & cut down on their waste, we decided to put our names down for a table at the restaurant. My co-workers had told me the week prior that the restaurant was a must and had gone on about the delicious food. Needless to say, we were not leaving without finding out what all the hype was about.
We were dying to try…everything. We decided to just get a bunch of small plates to share instead of individual entrees so we could try more of the menu 🙂
We started with a charcuterie board. I will honestly tell you that I have ordered and made more impressive charcuteries, but it wasn’t bad by any means.
Then we ordered the duck fat fries – which were heavenly.
Next up was the pretzels & beer cheese. If you go, 10/10 would recommend you order them. Pretzels + beer + cheese at a place that makes beer…no brainer.
Pizza is our love language so of course, we had to order a flatbread. It was nothing to write home about, but definitely tasty.
Annnnnnd the best part… for dessert we ordered their hazelnut cheesecake which was divine beyond words.
Ok, now that we are all starving I am going to bring this post to a close. We loved spending the day at Sierra Nevada. If you are in North Carolina and looking for a fun weekend activity I highly recommend you check it out.
Questions :
1. Whats your favorite brewery?
2.What Sierra Nevada beers do you recommend?
3.Whats your favorite place to day trip?
Love always,
We loved Sierra Nevada when we went to Asheville a few years back. I specifically remember those duck fat fries, haha! Looks like a great day! Not sure if you’d be a fan of sours (I’m not big on beer either, but I love sours!) but Wicked Weed in Asheville is great, too.