Asheville Brewing Expert: Here's Where To Eat, Drink And Play

Asheville, North Carolina (CNN) – Before any of the breweries in Asheville can brew beer, Lisa White knows that they need yeast.

White wanted the new location of the company to offer an original scene, focused on beer and music, as well as a culture of hiking, biking and kayaking.

"If Mammoth Lakes and Austin had had a baby, it would be Asheville, and that's why I love this place," says White, who was at the medical school her husband, Chris, was completing a PhD in biochemistry.

His laboratory work on fermentation led him to obtain better yeast for his home brewing projects. Chris founded White Labs in San Diego in 1995. Lisa left medical school and joined the company full time in 1997. (They are now divorced but still co-owners of their business together)

It's a brewer city

According to the latest census, Asheville has 33 breweries in the city alone and 48 in the greater Asheville area, according to the Explore Asheville exploration office.

The Highland Brewing Company was the first brewery to open in Asheville in 1994, followed by several others, including Green Man, Asheville Brewing and Pisgah (in Black Mountain, not far away), according to Explore Asheville.

And the industry continues to grow, with the opening of Fermented Nonsense Brewing and Black Mountain Brewing in 2018, as well as that of other breweries scheduled in 2019, the tourism bureau announced.

Although brewers can choose from about 300 regular and seasonal yeast strains from White Labs' parent cultures, stored in yeast banks at minus 80 degrees Celsius, the top three sellers are California Ale yeast, London Fog yeast Ale and German yeast Lager.

Play with yeast

Once in Asheville, White began inviting breweries to experiment with new and different yeast strains.

"We have received so many requests and have worked with local breweries and even cider houses in the area who want to do some special projects with us."

"What many people do not know, is that yeast can provide more than 500 flavoring and aromatic compounds to beer," she says. "What we do (in the restaurant), is that we take a recipe, it's a basic recipe, and we put it in different fermenters and the only thing we change in these is of four different types, it's yeast. "

She recommends trying their Tabberer IPA flight to taste the differences between different yeasts.

"We are only cool scientists, it's just who we are."

Although White was relatively new in the Asheville area, it was easy for him to make a list of his favorite places for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. listen to music; discover the visual arts scene; find a good book; and explore the outdoors. She also has a long list of places to drink beer, although she may call it work.

With her best friend Lara Wenner, a Las Vegas-based doctor who came to town for a visit, White drew up a list of places she wanted to share with her friend.

Let's start with breakfast

Over Easy is White's best choice of breakfast. "I get a local vibe from this place and I love the care of their food," she says. She recommends huevos rancheros. "And the coffee is good and strong, and they make good brunch badtails."

Option B: The Sunny Point Café is "a nice lively place and I can go with my kids," she says. The southern omelette is a favorite.

Fly in the air

Navitat's zip lining is on White's priority list before moving to Asheville. "They also take you on a trail and you discover the surrounding flora, then ride over and admire a great view," she says.

The Navitat zip lines are located in Moody Cove, a 242-acre pre-Civil War property, said Navitat CEO Ken Stamps.

White participated in the Blue Ridge Experience Tour, which features three juxtaposed zip lines, one of which is 3,600 feet long, 350 feet above ground at its highest point and offering speeds of up to 60 miles at the hour. said.

"The Navitat campus was so beautiful, the guides were so knowledgeable, thoughtful and entertaining, the ziplines were spectacular," said White. "I really had the feeling of flying."

The location of the Well-Bred restaurant in Weaverville is a great place to have a lunch break after a zipline. (Do not fill in advance!)

Option B: White and her family have annual pbades for Biltmore, Vanderbilt Estate, where she often follows a 12-kilometer walk training for an annual three-day bad cancer walk.

Time for a beer

The Bhramari Brewing Company does not look like most other breweries, and that says a lot to Asheville.

Bhramari is one of the favorite places for whites to take people. Co-owner and chief brewer Gary Sernack "is a little crazy, but you have to like that for him because he's taking risks," she says.

He'll think, "What if I just put a pizza in the beer?" and, all of you, he really did that, "she says." It's a little crazy. I'm sure sometimes it does not work, but often it works and he loves to publish it. "

One of the beers she really enjoyed was a play on an Arnold Palmer. So, "there was tea inside and lemon, and it was a good refreshing beer," she says. "If you put that in a can, I'll take it by casing in the Broad French River."

Option B: Support the White Labs charity branch, Beer 4 Boobs, which raises money for bad cancer, taking a pint at Catawba Brewing Co. or Hillman Beer. They support a cause "dear to my heart," she says.

Dinner by the river

After a few visits to Asheville, White wanted to take her friend for a great meal, a bit off the beaten path. She chose the Smoky Park Supper Club, a light-flooded, farm-to-table restaurant built from large containers used to transport goods on container ships and railways.

"Not only do you get a good meal, but you have a great view and the river flows to this place," says White. "It's right outside the city center, so if you just want to venture a bit far from the main city center [with] an easy place to park, it's really a great place to try. "

Option B: "Cúrate, for me, is the most authentic Spanish tapas you can find in the United States," she says, and she loves the sangria of the house. Cúrate regularly arrives at the top of the best restaurants in Asheville and "it is there that I like to take people".

Time for even more fun

Some bookstores have cafes. Battery Park Book Exchange has a bar with a full menu and many nooks and crannies among new and used books to drink and read and meet to talk about books and writing. It's here that White and her friend Wenner met to have a glbad of champagne and wander the book's alleys.

"It's a really cool and relaxed place," she says, "and not your typical bookstore."

Option B: Orange Peel is only one of the most popular music venues in Asheville. At a show in Orange Peel, "Lauryn Hill was ten feet away from me," White says.