The Best Pubs in Asheville to Definitely Visit

Asheville is one of the coolest cities on the East Coast. If you don’t know about Asheville, it’s a mid-sized town in western North Carolina known for its proximity to some great mountains, great breweries and a thriving arts culture. However, Asheville has so many pubs it can be hard to know where to start.

If you’re wondering how I came up with list – stop! There is no real scientific grounds to how I decided on these places. These are just the places that I make sure to stop at every time I’m in Asheville regardless of how many times I’ve visited them I’m in the past.

Without further ado and in no particular order, here is my list of the best breweries and pubs in Asheville!

Updated June 2023

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Thirsty Monk’s Downtown Location

Thirsty Monk is probably my favorite place in Asheville. It’s actually three different bars in one which is partly what makes it so cool. Besides offering variety, each of the individual bars is unique and fun in its own right.

On the bottom floor is a classic Belgian beer bar called the Delirium Bar. This bar is dimly lit with dark furniture making it feel like an old, cozy European pub. It serves – you guessed it! – mostly Belgian beers. It does have a few other items available if you do not like Belgian beer.

The ground floor features beers and seltzers from Thirsty Monk’s own brewery. The style of this bar is the least interesting of the three, but it does have a solid drink menu. Otherwise, if you are limited on time, you can skip the ground floor and not worry about missing too much.

The top floor is the star of the three. Top of the Monk is a “members only” bar with a small patio with some great views of the surrounding the mountains. The bar has a speakeasy feel and features handcrafted cocktails. You can get beer if you please; however, the ambience definitely lends itself to cocktails.

I mentioned that Top of the Monk is a member’s bar. You just need to show proof of ID and fill out a quick form. They have to do this because of the liquor laws in North Carolina. It’s worth the little bit of hassle.

Foggy Mountain Brew Pub

If you’re looking for a low key pub that is away from the touristy part of downtown, then Foggy Mountain is for you. We quite literally stumbled upon this place on our second visit to Asheville. We were there during March Madness, and I was looking for an uncrowded place to watch some of the games.

Foggy Mountain was perfect. All the popular places are great, but it’s nice to get away from the crowds after a long day. They have TVs, a very good pub menu, a good selection of local beer and live music. The other nice thing about Foggy Mountain is that it’s more reasonably priced than many of the touristy places.

Besides Asheville, western North Carolina is also a great spot for a winter getaway to the mountains!

Noble Cider’s The Cidery

The main reason Noble Cider is on this list is because of the quality of their product. If you like dry cider, then Noble is the place for you.

Besides all that, their cider is just downright good! Their flagship ciders are some of the best adult beverages I’ve had. In addition to their flagships, they also have a variety of seasonal and small batch ciders available. My personal recommendation is the Golden Arrow, a delightful ginger cider.

The Cidery is a fun place to grab a drink as long as you’re okay driving or getting an Uber to take you out of downtown. Inside the taproom, it’s your typical pub set-up, but there are also these themed rooms off to the side to relax in while you enjoy your cider. They are like little living rooms designed by different artists. Looking over everything in these rooms makes for great conservation starters or just a fun way to pass the time.

A lot of people visit this part of the state for the hiking, but great hiking can be found in the center of the state, too. After living in Durham for eight years, I compiled a list of some of the best hikes in the area!

Asheville Brewing Company

Asheville Brewing Company, commonly referred to as ABC, is one of Asheville’s original downtown breweries. For good reason, it’s one of the more well-known breweries and is very popular. This is both a blessing and a curse.

ABC is a great place to stop at for some good beer and equally good pizza. Unfortunately, a lot of people will have the same idea. I don’t think that is enough to remove it from this list, but it’s worth knowing that it can get crowded if you plan a visit here.

They have one of the more solid beer menus of any location in Asheville. Except for one, none of them are particularly outstanding but they are all very good. The one exception is their Ninja Porter. It’s one of my favorite beers; any time I’m in the area, I make sure to grab some to bring home.

If the good beer and pizza aren’t already enough, Asheville Brewing Company also has an impressive outdoor seating area, especially considering it’s right in the heart of downtown. With cornhole, giant Jenga and tons of space, ABC is one of the more kid- and dog-friendly breweries in downtown.

They also have an outdoor movie screen where they show older movies. If you are planning on catching a movie while visiting, make sure to check out their website ahead of time to see their schedule and buy tickets.

One World Brewing’s Downtown Location

One World Brewing doesn’t have the best beer. They don’t have food. They’re not as well known as many other breweries in Asheville. None of that matters to me. I think that One World has one of the coolest bars in Asheville!

Just to get to the brewery you have to go through an alleyway till you come to a stairway and then go down two flights of steps. It feels like a secret bar that only a privileged few know about.

Once you find the stairway and enter, you arrive in a dark bar that looks like that basement you would hang out in college to get away from the party raging upstairs. They also have a few parlor games in the back that are extremely addictive; I have no idea what it’s called, but it’s sort of a combination between shuffleboard and those old table hockey games with wooden pucks.

The beer is good, but nothing fantastic. Every time I’ve been to One World Brewing, they have had a good selection of dark beers on tap, so if that is your preference you should be able to find something to enjoy.

Hi-Wire Brewing’s South Slope Location

Hi-Wire is probably my all-around favorite brewery of any city. They have a wide variety of beers, and they are all excellent! Like IPA’s? They have you covered. Like dark beer? They have those, too. Like sours? Check again!

They have several great flagship beers. Asides from these, they are always experimenting with new flavors to bring you fantastic beer. This is definitely a place to try a flight so you can taste as much of what they have to offer as possible.

The taproom itself is pretty basic. The last time I was there the only frill was the old Nintendo gaming system (which, if you’re in your 30’s, is actually a pretty big positive). Besides this, they also pump out some excellent music to nod your head to while you sip your beer.

Be that as it may, you’re not going to Hi-Wire for the attractions. You’re going there to taste very good beer in the presence of friends and family. I can’t stress it enough: With how good the beer is, you’ll be glad you came.

Bhramari Brewing Company

I’ve been a big fan of Bhramari since before they hit it big. I can’t even remember exactly how I first found about them. I think there was a local place in Durham stocking some of their beer. It had a fun name and label, so I gave it a try.

Love. At. First. Sight. (Well, taste, but you get the idea.)

To be perfectly honest, I’ve only been in Bhramari’s brewery once. The time I was there, it was okay. That’s not why Bhramari is on this list, though.

Bhramari is on this list because they have fantastic beer. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every beer I’ve had from them. What I like most about what Bhramari does is that they make less well-known styles of beer. They’re also a little more experimental with their flavors. Especially if you’re a beer aficionado, these two things make Bhramari a must-see on any tour of Asheville.

If you’re not a beer fan, Bhramari also has a wine and cocktail menu for more refined tastes. It’s somewhat unusual for a brewery to have cocktails so it’s nice that they offer this to their customers for a change of pace.

Since writing this, Bhramari apparently ran into management issues that caused significant problems with their quality causing them to close. As of April 2023, the business has been sold and is planning to reopen with new branding.

Honorable Mentions

Beer City Festival

Every summer Asheville has a city-wide Beer Week to celebrate its many breweries, and the Beer City Festival is the capstone event towards the end of the week. I’ve been to two of these, and each time have had an amazing time.

They have food trucks, live music and somewhere between 30 and 40 breweries serving some of their flagships and small-batch beers made just for the festival. It’s spread out in a large park in downtown so even though it’s crowded, you never feel overwhelmed by how many people are present.

I’ve been to several beer festivals in my life; the Beer City Festival blows them all away! If you can plan a trip to Asheville around this, I strongly urge you to do so!

The SkyBar

The SkyBar was one of my favorite places to have a drink in Asheville. It was a rooftop bar with high-quality cocktails and even better views of the Blue Ridge Mountains off in the distance.

Sadly, the SkyBar closed in 2019 to make way for an updated hotel. So, this obviously is not a recommendation since it’s no longer there, but this list didn’t feel complete without at least mentioning it.

Apparently, the new hotel will have an expanded rooftop once it opens so it might still be worth checking out even though it’ll be under a new name. If you’ve been there, please leave a comment and let me know how it is!

Resources to Book Your Trip to Asheville

Whether you’re looking for tours, hotels or flights, here are some tools to help get you started planning your trip to North Carolina!

Look for activities and tours offered through GetYourGuide or Viator!

Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Check out my travel essentials pages for more of my recommendations.

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