the highland brewing company, located at 12 old charlotte highway asheville, nc. december of 1994 was when they rolled out their first kegs and they have just been growing from there. i decided to take the tour because let's be honest, who doesn't like free samples? best part? they hand you a beer before the tour even starts. then, you put on your (beer) goggles, pick up your free beer and follow the quirky guide into the plant. the thing i found most odd (or should i say unique?) about this place is that when you take the tour, the first thing you see is a giant statue of a scottsman in a kilt playing bagpipes. i know, right? but this is explained by your tour guide. something about wanting to uphold the traditions of the locals who's anscestor's settled the area (apparently scotts). funny thing is, i am pretty sure it was mentioned that a jamaican owns the joint (haha, see what i did there? jamaican? owns the joint? c'mon, you get it, right??) anyway, it was a lively tour, not drawn out but absolutely made more interesting because you got to drink a beer whilst walking around and checking the place out. um, i should mention that drinking free beer after free beer after hiking all day (dupont state forest) is maybe not a good idea if you are the one driving home. fun, but just make sure you have a dd, you'll need it!
take some time to walk around, check out what they have to offer other than the free beer (that's always the best part, but there's other cool stuff too). ran into this guy. he was one of the awesome bartenders more than willing to dole out samples of their brews. his knick name is apparently the 'angry gnome' so it seems we had something in common. although i'm not really all that angry, even though it may appear so. they even had a gnome on tap. this was reserved for the kiddos and contained birch beer, which i did not try because who drinks birch beer when there's real beer available? not me. they of course have food trucks out front (all of the breweries i have visited thus far have all had food trucks) and a nifty little party area with a tiki bar on the grounds if you prefered to hang outside.
i was loving the whole 'just a wee bit different' mantra. this place is tucked away in the western mountains of north carolina and it really is 'a wee bit different'', just like me (ok, i'm maybe more than a 'wee', but you get the idea). all the staff is super friendly and pretty accomodating. you don't have to take the tour, but i would if i were you. you get to wear some awesome goggles that probably a thousand other people before you had on their face and you don't want to miss out on that do you? do you?? didn't think so. i would have hung out longer, but i am always on the run and i had places to go and people to eat, er, i mean see. so make sure you check out my facebook page for more fun pictures of the things i saw and people i met along the way! on to my next adventure...
