Asheville Beer Week 2015: Beer dinners

From $4 a la carte tapas to a glorious $100 private dinner, Asheville Beer Week gives you lots of options for brews and meals. Meet the chefs. Match Vortex doughnuts with Burial’s breakfast stout. Boogie at a cookout to benefit local women brewers and the Pink Boots Society. Find out what local James Beard Award-nominated chefs can do with beer and food pairings. Drink. Eat. Be happy. (For the latest info about tickets and events, which are subject to change, visit avlbeerweek.com/events.)

A la carte, by donation or free

Daily beer-and-food pairings at Sierra Nevada

A la carte, Sierra Nevada Taproom (Mills River), taproom hours, May 22-30

Sierra Nevada Taproom will offer a special Beer Week menu with daily food specials and exclusive beer and food pairings May 22-30.

Backyard BBQ & Home Brew Workshop

Free (bring your own side dish), Catawba Brewing (Biltmore Village), 2-10 p.m. May 25

Celebrate Memorial Day at Catawba’s Biltmore Village location by brewing a beer and grilling some burgers. A homebrew workshop will take place on-site, with burgers provided by Catawba and sides brought by participants. Don Richardson, one of North Carolina’s original brewers, will assist and answer questions. (Yes, this is the “King Don” from King Don’s Pumpkin Ale.) Asheville Brewers Supply will set up its homebrew system. And yes, a beer will be brewed. All levels of beer enthusiasts are welcome to participate and/or observe.

Taps and Tapas

A la carte, Twin Leaf Brewery, 5 p.m. May 27

Smashbox Mobile Kitchen will be rolling on by Twin Leaf Brewery to create some special tapas dishes that pair with the beer. Mix and match as you choose, and build your own beer dinner with one of Asheville’s finest food trucks.

Beer and Tapas

A la carte, Evolution Wine Kitchen, 6 p.m., May 28

The beer-and-food pairings continue with this collaboration between Innovation Brewing and Evolution Wine Kitchen in Sylva. They’ll offer a variety of meats, cheeses, Greek fare and other small plates, paired with a complimentary brew.

Hops, Hips and Beef Tips


By donation, Altamont Brewing Co., 3 p.m. until ?, May 28, avl.mx/0wh

The Altamont Brewing Co. will host the third annual ABW cookout. Moe’s Original BBQ in Woodfin will serve up some deliciousness for your mouth alongside a variety of brews. The get-together spotlights the hardworking ladies in the craft beer industry; it fundraises for the Pink Boots Society. Look for the #AVLlumberladiesbarcrawl leading the parade down Haywood Road in West Asheville and ending at The Altamont Brewing Co. for some live funk and blues music too.

The Reincarnation of Beer

A la carte ($4-$6 plates), Burial Beer Co., 4 p.m. until the beer runs out, May 26

Six Burial Beer Co. beers and their adjunct opposites for 12 small-plate pairings from Salt and Smoke.

Skillet Donut Stout Split Batch Event
 with Vortex Doughnut pairing

A la carte, Burial Beer Co. taproom, 4 p.m. until beer runs out, May 28

Take Burial’s beloved breakfast stout — which is split six ways and aged on various adjuncts, such as rum-soaked wood spirals, strawberry and vanilla, peanut butter, cherries, hazelnut and chocolate, maple and cinnamon — then pair the variations with various Vortex doughnuts … and voilá!

Hop Crafted with Hi-Wire Brewing

A la carte, The Imperial Life, 5-10 p.m., May 27

The Imperial Life is mixing it up for ABW and bringing in Hi-Wire Brewing to celebrate. The Hop Crafted event will showcase a variety of flights that play with the traditional pairings of food, beer and spirits. The bar will also showcase whimsical bites that highlight how food brings out flavors in beer that might not be noticed at first sip. Rather enjoy a full beverage instead of a flight? The Imperial Life’s bartenders will also offer full pours of their Hi-Wire beer cocktails all evening. And a DJ will spin during the evening to make for an event that engages all the senses.

Interactive Beer Dinner with Buxton Hall Barbecue

A la carte, Burial Beer Co., 3-7 p.m., May 29

This isn’t your average beer dinner. It’s an a la carte event where you can come and purchase tickets to individual stations. Each station will have a food from Buxton Hall Barbecue — everything from barbecued meats to delicious sides — paired with a Burial Beer Co. beer. Try them all or customize your event. The stations will be set up around the taproom and outside.

A Night with Stone Brewing Co.

$$, Jack of the Wood, 5-10 p.m., May 28

Randall is coming: Starting at 5 p.m., and for every hour till 10, the crew will run a different Stone Brewing Co. beer through the Randall infuser, then pair it with a locally sourced small plate. To help accomplish this task, they’ve enlisted the help of our farmers, cheese makers, chefs, and bakers who can offer a creative twist on beer-and-food pairings using the freshest possible ingredients for a unique celebration.

$20-$49

French Broad Chocolate and Catawba Beer Pairing

$20, Catawba’s Rickhouse (South Slope), 6-7:30 p.m. May 27, limited to first 25 guests

South Slope neighbors French Broad Chocolates and Catawba Brewing unite once again to marry chocolate and beer. They’ll pair five decadent truffles with five barrel-aged and sour beers — like Theros orange and fennel truffle paired with the sour White Zombie, or the sorghum caramel truffle alongside the 2.5-year-old Bourbon Barrel-Aged. The seating will take place in Catawba’s Rickhouse. The event includes a brewery tour and extensive chocolate descriptions.

Whole Foods Beer Dinner with Green Man Brewery

$20, Whole Foods Tap Haus, 4 S. Tunnel Road, 7 p.m. May 26, seating is limited, 239-9604

The creative culinary team at the Whole Foods Tap Haus has designed five courses — everything from an assortment of Berliner Weiss cheeses to Cornish game hen to strawberry trifle — to be paired with five specialty, seasonal and flagship beers from Green Man Brewery. A portion of proceeds from the event will be donated to Open Doors, a local nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children. There will also be a blind auction for a gift basket of Green Man swag to benefit the organization.

$50-$79

Beer Dinner with Catawba Brewing and FIG Bistro

$60, FIG Bistro, 6 p.m. May 24, reservations required: 277-0889

FIG Bistro and Catawba Brewing will host a beer-and-food pairing dinner. The evening will feature five courses, each paired with a Catawba beer that accentuates the culinary experience. In addition to great food and beer, pros from FIG and Catawba Brewing will be on hand to discuss each pairing.

Butcher’s Table Dinner and Beer Pairing

$60, Pisgah Brewing Co., 7 p.m. May 28

Butcher’s Table dinners showcase the finest work from Foothills Deli & Butchery, and for this ABW event, the Black Mountain butcher shop and caterer will partner with Pisgah Brewing Co. to go way “off-menu” for a meatcentric, locally sourced, unforgettable five-course meal. Foothills butcher Tyler Cook and chef Trevon Dunn prepare a meaty feast paired with Pisgah brews, celebrating ABW and 10 years of Pisgah Brewing.

Chestnut Meets Sierra Nevada

$60, Chestnut, 6:30 p.m. May 28, reservations required: 575-2667

This feast offers inspired creations from Chestnut executive chef Joe Mitchell and features Sierra Nevada brews and brew pairings with each course. The dinner includes a welcome reception and four-course meal.

Farm Dinner: HNG+Rhubarb+Catawba

$79, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 5:30-9 p.m. May 26, tickets: 785-1503 or ellie@rhubarbasheville.com

James Beard Foundation Award finalist John Fleer and his crew at Rhubarb Asheville will partner with the Catawba Brewing Co. and Hickory Nut Gap Farm to present five farm-to-table dishes alongside five craft beers.

Sunny Point Café and Wedge Brewing Beer Dinner Spectacular

$60, Sunny Point Café, 6 p.m. seating & 8 p.m. seating, May 28 

Start the evening in Sunny Point‘s on-site garden while enjoying bites and flight-size pours of Wedge Brewing Co. beers. Next, move over to the café for salad, entrée and dessert courses — each paired with and cooked with Wedge beers. By the end, diners may very well have sampled by glass or dish every beer that Wedge makes. Dishes will feature seasonal ingredients, including produce harvested from Sunny Point’s garden and creative uses of Wedge beers. Entrée choices will include a vegetarian option.

$80-$100

Sierra Nevada Small-Batch Brew Dinner

$100, Sierra Nevada Taproom, 6 p.m., May 26, reservations required: avl.mx/0wi

For ABW, the Sierra Nevada Taproom in Mills River will be hosting a private beer dinner celebrating the startup of its small-batch pilot brewery. This dinner, the first of many, will be a collaboration between brewer and chef, featuring six of the brewery’s latest small-batch creations and dishes designed to complement them. Each brew will be paired with a food course that emphasizes the freshest of local spring ingredients. Only 60 tickets will be sold (first come, first served).

Bruisin’ Ales and The Market Place Beer Dinner with Special Guest/Author Stephen Beaumont

$80, The Market Place, 7 p.m. May 27, reservations required: 252-8999

Join the Bruisin’ Ales crew for a tag-team beer dinner featuring chef William Dissen of The Market Place —voted One of America’s Most Sustainable Chefs — and special guest Stephen Beaumont, a James Beard Foundation Award nominee for beer-and-spirits writing. Dissen’s five-course seasonal harvest menu gets paired with rare beers from around the world, hand-selected by Beaumont.