The most charming and unexpected little spot! The food and service were incredible, and the drinks…read morewere spectacular. The owners and staff were so welcoming--I walked in a stranger and left feeling like a friend. I only wish I didn't live all the way in Indiana because this would absolutely be my go-to place. Highly recommend the Caprese flatbread and the Morning After drink, both were so delicious!

Booked a private cocktail class where we got to learn all about the history of Cultivated…read moreCocktails, the liquors that they distill, and their partnerships within the community, all while sipping on samples of their liquors! We were able to sample 4 liquors and 4 liqueur. For the liquors, we samples rum, two types of gin, and vodka. All had high ABVs but the rum and vodka had very light flavors without the usual bite at the end! Their regular gin had a strong juniper taste, while their Shades of Rose Gin carried a lighter, fruitier taste. For Liqueurs, we were able to sample their Appalachian Aperetif, Ginger Cordial, Creme de Cacao, and Coffee Liqueur. My top three were the Shades of Rose Gin, the Ginger Cordial, and the Coffee Liqueur. After choosing our top three samples, our mixologist made us three half cocktails from our selections. The class was amazing, the drinks were amazing, and our mixologist was amazing! The cost of the class was $30 per person.

We just left Eda Rhyne Distilling Company and I couldn't resist writing a review right away. This…read morewas actually the third stop of the day after a big lunch at Red Ginger, and even though I wasn't planning on drinking much, the diverse selection here completely pulled me in. Iris was the highlight of our visit. She not only served us but also made us feel at home and gave us such a rich history of the distillery. The owners have a foraging background, and all of the herbs used come straight from North Carolina. Even the water here is top-notch. She shared that they had just recently reopened after Tropical Storm Helene last year, which made the experience feel even more special. I started with a flight plus whiskey and tried the Bitter Tooth (sweet and smooth), the Appalachian Fernet, and the Rustic Nocino. The whiskey rye was impressively smooth. I loved the flight so much that I had to order an Amaro Sour, which turned out to be an absolute delight. What's really nice too is that this place is kid-friendly, so it feels very welcoming. Honestly, this is a spot everyone should check out while in Asheville. Stop in, take your time, and don't leave without grabbing a bottle to bring home.

The bartender was very knowledgeable about the different drinks they made. The distillery was very…read morecomfortable and fitting.

This was a great way to see part of Asheville and learn the history and the present. The drinks…read morewere great the views were awesome and the guide was very knowledgeable.

What a terrific addition to the roster of Must-Do Activities in Asheville. This isn't just for…read moretourists, either! We are locals, and this experience made us feel the magic of being tourists in our own town. Looking down several stories and gazing out several miles, both, gave us such unique perspectives of the City. And yes, you can go to these rooftop bars on your own, but the Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours provides endless historical and architectural anecdotes of the area. Sam even shared numerous photos dating back to the 1800's, giving unique snapshots to the past while you gaze upon the present. You also gain access to the reserved premier seating on the decks, dedicated wait staff, and oftentimes off-menu craft cocktails and mocktails. Ask for the witty and charming Sam, but if he is busy, you will have fun with the rest of the staff! Ten outta Ten!!!

Many thanks to Cody for allowing me to visit and pepper him with questions…read more Not a distillery with the glistening mashtuns & stills of big money startups, Howling Moon is pure lean startup. Moonshine prepared the old school way with business savvy. Says they sold their first batch and are growing based on demand. Main room has three pot stills with thumpers, they're working on a fourth still. HM is "proof" that with determination and know how, it's possible to make a go of it. Love the spirit - and the spirits! Good luck. PS wasn't sure what what a rating would mean. Mine is for hosting me at their digs.

Where have I been? I've lived in asheville for the past 11 years and…read morenever knew of this place. What a find! Wanted to watch sunday football and the places I've been going to use canola oil for all of their frying, and that's a NO NO for me. Ya gotta eat, right? So I Groked it to find if there was a sportsbar that would have new meaning for me, and there it was...Rye Knot! French fries cooked in beef tallow. Are you kidding me? They were OUT OF THIS WORLD My team lost, but I feel SO good that I found this hidden gem in north asheville.

Service (Grave) was fantastic. We enjoyed a bogo meatloaf and Grace gave us the option to…read moresubstitute a beet salad for the extra meatloaf. Fried Brussels were also tasty.

We were the only ones there on a slow Saturday afternoon. Jeremy was friendly and helpful. The…read morevodkas and rum were super smooth.

After years of Dalton Distillery being open, I finally made it a point to go try it out for a…read morepre-dinner drink. When I entered the establishment I was wowed at how cool the space is, I had no idea and honestly didn't have high expectations. The bar is decorated really cool with geometric wall designs and a giant hexagonal opening leading from one room to the other. Dalton Distillery also has Ping-Pong, a pool table, and video games. I had no idea. As I walked in, I was immediately curious as to how this place isn't more popular. There is plenty of seating with lots of chairs and a few couches. The Distillery is decorated with some cool furniture too and has some colorful graffiti murals. I am a very visual person and this place was surprisingly awesome inside. I'd love to come back with a group of friends for some Ping-pong and pool games! I was very happy to hear that my bourbon and gingers were only $4, a great deal that is a rarity in/near downtown Asheville. My friend ordered some of their housemade rum in a cocktail that neither of us enjoyed, but they have a pretty good beer selection so he left happy anyway. Overall this place was great and I can't wait to check it out again. I had to give Dalton Distillery 4 stars rather than 5 because the bartender was very unfriendly. I asked him many questions about the rum. I was very interested considering that they are a distillery and that is what they make, but he seemed annoyed by my questions and barely answered them. He talked to me in a way that was very arrogant and dismissive. I'd like to hope that next time I go in there is a different bartender or he has a better demeanor. Servers and bartenders play the role of being the face/representative of an establishment and for my first experience being here, there was not a good representation.

On a recent anniversary trip to Asheville, my husband and I enjoyed Eating Asheville's historical…read moredowntown food tour. We decided to splurge for The High Roller option as it was only around $10 more a person and included beverage parings with the food. Included is up to 6 stops at restaurants, bars, or desserteries with at-least 3 alcoholic beverages pairings and then other non-alcoholic options. The tour lasts about 2.5- 3 hours. This is a walking in food tour, so you have to be able and willing to travel on foot some. It wasn't a ton of walking, but did work up a little sweat as it was a warmer Friday afternoon (this tour is offered Thursday- Sunday). We had a small group of 6 people plus our tour guide. She was very sweet and personable. I think she may have been semi new at this as her story flow was a little jumbled, but it didn't bother me too much as honestly she was trying and I was interested in food way more than history. She did point out some important sites along the way and give us some fun Asheville facts. Great thing about these tours is they do vary. While the company has a number of places they work with which ones are selected for you, depends on the day, time, season etc. So you could honestly do these tours more than once and experience new things still. Our tour began at Asheville Charcuterie where we each enjoyed a personalized board of meat, cheese, cracker, fruit, and a local spicy honey. It was also served with a Bold Rock cider. This was a cute shop where you can get a drink or snack there or take items with you to go. Next was to the Grove Arcade where we hit Bebettes, a New Orleans coffeehouse with fresh out the oven beignets with a warm chocolate dipping sauce, served with a shot of coffee. So yummy. I felt bad about all the power sugar I got everywhere. Gotta love a dessert on stop 2! For the third s location was Strada Italiano. The food here was excellent. We sampled one of their arancini balls and a grilled Florentine ravioli. Both were delicious bites and executed flawlessly. Great Italian fare with some red wine. My husband and I agreed we want to come back here for a full Italian dinner experience on our next trip. Starting to feel a little full at this point, not gonna lie but things continued to get more hearty at The Rhu. We got to enjoy their house breakfast sausage and pimento cheese on a buttermilk biscuit. Thank goodness they only gave us half each as these bad boys were thick. All three components were so tasty, with the pimento cheese winning for me. It came with some iced tea, which was definitely southern and sweet. I knew we had one more food stop left before dessert. Imagine my surprise when it was an Indiana buffet at Mehfil. On the fifth stop? Lord, a bad day to wear jeans! They place was so generous giving us a like private mini buffet of items like tandoori chicken, saag paneer, naan, butter chicken, rice and more. I truly wish I had room to eat more as everything was so tasty, especially their tandoori chicken. Also they had the best beverage pairing with a pear mule cocktail - perfectly light and smooth for a warm day. Our tour guide joked that we would need to cancel our dinner reservations, turns out they weren't kidding. The last stop was Asheville Chocolate. So many amazing sweet treats you could enjoy at this place. We wrapped up our tour with a chocolate truffle and cookies and cream gelato. I had to ask my husband to help finish these as I was stuffed. Before departing, we tipped our guide. This is not required, but we were happy to do so as she worked hard and took great care of us. After the tour, not gonna lie went back to our hotel and had an amazing nap! Sign of a good food tour! I thought this food tour was a great deal for the $90 per person price. I know at first it sounds like a lot. But we more than got $15 worth at each place from the food and drink itself, plus to convenience of being able to just walk in to a reserved table at a popular restaurant with a planned bite ready in a few minutes. Not to mention, having a personal tour guide to take you around and teach you about where you are, what you are eating , and Asheville in general. If you like to eat, and can eat a lot (you will be very full but it's worth it), take this tour. It was a great way to get a taste of places you've never been and decide where you wanna go back to and try a full meal next time!

Did we have a good time overall? Yes. However, do I think…read moreit's worth the $92/person price tag all in with taxes and fees... to sample 5 places with varying portions of food and drink? Not quite. The classic before fees is $79/person. It offers "minimum of 5 stops and at least 2 drink pairings" from their website. Don't get me started on the 15.5% extra they tack on for "taxes and fees". If the unavoidable city tax for Asheville is 7%, the remainder is 8.5% for what? Their website/payment services? To be fair, the pricing is similar to one we took part in NOLA $78/person with Destination Kitchen but the food and portions were more balanced (albeit without drink pairings). For $10 more base price, you can book the high roller tour $89/person. After all is said and done I'm wondering if we should have spent the extra amount and upgraded to the high roller since the descriptor highlights "most elegant, trendy, and acclaimed" options. I understand the business also needs to make a profit along with giving a cut to the tour guides. At the beginning and throughout the tour, the guide continued to emphasize that if we were still hungry by the end that they have not done their jobs. However, there's more to consider. I'll go through the 5 places we tried and how one of the newest additions isn't even listed still on their website so if you were to look ahead of time for the offerings you would not expect it! We met our group inside the Grove Street Arcade on a Monday in September which is a great spot with some shops and public restrooms before we started. STOP 1 - The Rhu https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-rhu-asheville This is the cafe/breakfast bakery sister to Rhubarb, which is more upscale. They prepared a small cup of iced sweet tea with half of their breakfast sandwich. The refreshing tea with sugar cubes paired nicely with the buttery biscuit sandwich. Value: $8.50 for full sandwich and drink was not listed so going to estimate total is worth one sandwich. STOP 3 - Bold Rock https://www.yelp.com/biz/bold-rock-asheville-asheville The Cidery story actually started in VA but I'm glad they expanded to NC. We sampled a 6~7 oz cider paired with a Bruschetta and Bacon Apple Grilled Cheese. (American, cheddar, goat cheese, local apples, bacon, Dijon aioli, sourdough) It was super tasty and really enjoyed everything!! Value: ~$5 half pour, ~$10 for the food so one of the better values STOP 3 - Mëhfil https://www.yelp.com/biz/mehfil-asheville-2 Full buffet spread of ~6 Indian dishes with Mango Lassi and a tasty alcoholic beverage too! Now this place is the spot I mentioned isn't even listed with their logo on the restaurant page... I checked their Instagram which isn't updated frequently either and they announced just the day before our tour so this is brand NEW. Unfortunately this is one of the cuisines my SO does not eat. We would not have known that reserving in advance... which is a shame. Value: ~$25-30 honestly since they were offering generous full size portions of their dishes that you could serve yourself, this was hands down the best cost wise. If you were to fill up it would be at this stop. The staff were also super nice and hospitable! STOP 4 - Manicomio Pizza https://www.yelp.com/biz/manicomio-pizza-asheville Plain and simple pizzeria with some funky designs. We sampled a single slice which may have been their special of the day with cherry tomato and artichoke and a lemon wedge to spritz. It tasted good, but forgettable. They just gave us water. Value: $5.50 by the slice for daily special STOP 5 FINAL - Sunshine Sammies https://www.yelp.com/biz/sunshine-sammies-asheville Makes sense we'd end on dessert and we sampled 1/2 a sandwich of I believe their seasonal pumpkin! It was a sweet way to conclude the tour. Value: $4, a full size seasonal flavor is $8 I was full from the generous spread offered at Mëhfil which carried the food and drink side of the tour. Unfortunately my SO didn't get to fully enjoy the experience, and there was no way we could have expected they'd take us to the new restaurant that was just announced. Even being generous with some of my estimates, I landed at value of ~$60, which is still short of the cost you're paying especially when more than half of these locations are more fast casual spots. The most disappointing was the pizzeria, since aside from the artwork I didn't feel anything unique about the taste and seems like a wasted opportunity given the list of other more interesting restaurants. I enjoyed the historical information the guide sprinkled throughout along with background about each of the locations. Next time I'll keep in mind for Mondays where many restaurants aren't open.

JC MADE THIS EXPERIENCE MY FAVORITE OF OUR TRIP! Such a fun, positive, catering, knowledgeable guy…read more This tour was so fun, I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Asheville. I definitely see myself coming back to do this again. One complaint would be lack of clarity on pickup location. It would be beneficial if this was shared on your receipt or confirmation email. It was eventually found in the FAQ section. Overall, 10/10! Thanks again, JC!

I originally booked Asheville Brews Cruise for a tour for 18 people for my bachelorette, originally…read morescheduled for October 2024. Due to the hurricane, I had asked to reschedule my booking to the end of March 2025. I had put down an over $1000 deposit, which I was told was fully refundable at the time of my booking. At first J.C. was very communicative and said that he was happy to reschedule and that he would send the updated paperwork. However, I never received the updated paperwork and tried over 3 months to get a response from J.C. as to whether Asheville Brews Cruise would still be able to provide a tour for my bachelorette. With no response, I assumed that Asheville Brews Cruise could no longer support a tour for my bachelorette party and therefore booked a tour with a different company and asked for a refund of my original deposit. With again no response, in February, I finally tried messaging Asheville Brews Cruise over Instagram to get a refund on my deposit. J.C. finally responded and noted that he would reach out about a refund. But to this day I have still not received that refund after trying to communicate with Asheville Brews Cruise over email, text, and through multiple phone calls. While I understand that all businesses in Asheville are going through a hard time post hurricane, the lack of responsiveness over 5 months and failure to refund my substantial deposit has put me at my wits end. I would not recommend booking with this company for any future tours.

This was a great brewery tour for the price, just shy of 50 bucks. We went to three breweries and…read moreloved every single one of them. We were a group of 5 and it was just us. I can't remember the name of our tour guide but he was super knowledgeable about beer and the area. He has lived in Asheville for 30 years and gave us tons of info about the area and things to do. Also very knowledgeable about the business. We really enjoyed it. The bus we rode on was comfortable and the tour guide had waters for us to drink. It was just over 3 hours. We never felt rushed. It was on Sunday, Father's Day. Things were pretty empty which was s nice contrast to our usual Sunday's in Miami. Overall great time, great tours. Highly recommend If you are in Asheville for a couple days and want to visit a few breweries.

Our tour guide was awesome. He explained the brewing process and had a ton of knowledge. The tour…read moremade four stops and since it was raining our driver offered to drop us off at a different brewery rather than our original starting point which saved us a walk. Looking for a laid back way to enjoy some beer use this group.

I took a two-hour walking tour this morning in Asheville with Peter, and it was absolutely…read morefantastic. From the moment he introduced himself, Peter proved to be a wealth of knowledge. He gave us a rich historical background of Asheville before guiding us through the streets, where we stopped at various points of interest. Along the way, he highlighted restaurants, landmarks, and historical sites dating from the 1700s to today. His storytelling made the city come alive, and I learned so much more than I expected. I honestly can't say enough about Peter--he was truly phenomenal. If you're visiting Asheville, this tour is a must! This is a tipped based program. While the walking tour is free, the guides depend on their tips. Please be generous.

David was a great guide through the River Arts District. We learned so much about the area and got…read moreto see some great studios and artists. Highly recommended!