ASHEVILLE - Asheville Beer Week is hosted by the Asheville Brewers Alliance, which was formed to promote Western North Carolina-produced beers and to exchange knowledge and support between its members. With the support of this year’s co-presenting sponsor exactwater, the Brewer’s Alliance is thrilled to showcase culture, community, and WNC beverages - beer and beyond! 

The mission is to celebrate local beer and foster community — to taste many different styles of beer; to pair beer with an array of delicious foods; to learn about and explore beer’s connection among fellow artisan industries; to promote and collaborate with our vibrant culinary, outdoors, and art cultures; and most of all, to have fun drinking beer in the brew-centric mountains of Western North Carolina. There’s something for everyone: from beer nerds and homebrewers to casual drinkers and n/a drinkers. 

Asheville Beer Week strives to engage the local community but will also draw thousands of visitors from across the country to experience our vibrant craft beverage scene. Beer enthusiasts from as far as Alaska, Vermont, and Florida - and as close as Raleigh, Charlotte, and Atlanta - travel to Asheville to attend events. This year, Beer Week will not only showcase our beautiful beer scene but everything that makes Asheville unique and special. This nine-day showcase provides a time for Asheville to shine as a creative, collaborative town of talented makers and business owners. Most will come for the beer, but return for the community and culture. 

This year’s events aim to highlight and illuminate Asheville and WNC to locals and visitors alike. Most of these events will provide the quintessential Asheville experience while also featuring weekly and monthly programming around town. Think trivia and game nights at local honey holes, industry nights at new hotels, food & beverage tours around town, and of course educational seminars given by professionals in the ever-growing beverage industry of beer, wine, and even spirits! 

The multi-day, multi-venue calendar will be filled with old favorites and new events alike including collaboration releases, film screenings, beer dinners, panel discussions, brewer meet and greets, and friendly brewery competitions. Most daytime events and programming will be free or discounted for Beer Week. 

Bartenders and Brewers will have the chance to represent their brewery in a friendly Volleyball Tournament at Highland Brewing Co. or a classic game of Beer Pong at DSSLOVR. If bar games are your jam, Asheville Sports and Social will also be hosting some fun games of cornhole, ping pong, and more. There will also be the 1st Annual Battle of the Breweries Blood Drive with The Blood Connection. This will be a multi-day, multi-venue event where community members and tourists will have the opportunity for a little friendly competition of donating pints of blood (in exchange for a cold beverage of course!). Participating organizations Devil’s Foot Beverage, Archetype Brewing, Eda Rhyne, French Broad Brewery, Ginger’s Revenge, The Whale, Hi-Wire Brewing, Lazy Hiker Brewing, Hillman, Innovation, Pleb, and Wicked Weed will have a Blood Connection bus during the week. 

If you haven't had a chance to see the new Black Is Beautiful documentary, there will be one screening on the last night of celebrations. There will be a live Q&A with the documentarian Marco Orgeta and the Owner of Weathered Souls, Marcus Baskerville. This marks year two of the Black is Beautiful Initiative which is a collaborative nationwide effort to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face daily and raise funds for police brutality reform and legal defense for those who have been wronged. Now is your chance to take part. 

Don't forget to grab a friend and head outside of central Asheville as well. Asheville Beer Week promotes the communities and values of all of WNC. A new addition this year is the Weaverville Altbier Pub Crawl; Eluvium Brewing, Leveller Brewing, and Zebulon Brewing are creating their own versions of the classic Dusseldorf Altbier. Drinkers are encouraged to visit each brewery and sample each brewer’s take on the style. Also, these breweries will have a limited edition glass with different artwork for sale individually or collected as a set. The event starts on Friday, May 19 and will run throughout Beer Week. Also, make your way down to Sylva or Dillsboro’s Innovation Brewing to catch the train, a drag show, and sip on some very tasty IPAs. When we say WNC, we mean it. 

Interested in learning more about beer? Want to see how it’s made from start to finish? Want to hear from local brewers, activate your senses, touch, see, and watch the entire process from start to finish? This year for Beer Week, Outsider Brewing is proud to host a multi-day, live brewing collaboration event at their craft studio where the brewers you love and the customers who want to look behind the curtain of why we brew can interact with the craft in a way they've never been able to before. Each day of the collaboration, they will brew during business hours on their completely transparent brewhouse and host a rotating cast of brewers who are taking this time to meet their patrons in the middle. Brewers will be brewing live and guiding these community members through the whole brew, humanizing the process and ingredients and revealing what makes Asheville beer exactly that. The final product will be then sent out to be on tap at all participating breweries as a very special one-time small batch. 

Continuing education is also an integral part of the craft brewing scene. The Craft Beverage Institute of the South East at A-B Tech and the NC Brewers Guild will host a GMP + Compliance / Brewery Safety Seminar for brewers & brewery owners on May 19. Ohanafy Beverage Solutions will be leading a seminar for breweries as well on how to supercharge your sales with technology. 

If you love live music (who doesn’t?!), keep your eyes on our events calendar where you can check out what day and time the jams start. Local favorites will include April B, The Blushin' Roulettes, Fo Daniels, The Dan Clare Duo, Matt Smith, and more throughout the week. You might even spot some of your favorite local brewers on stage. GrindFest will close out the party with a Salvage Station blowout featuring Big Boi, Talib Kawli, and Waka Flocka Flame. And then there’s Downtown After 5 - Coconut Cake will grace the stage on Friday, the 19th. This is an Afro-centric local gem you won’t want to miss. 

Feeling full of beer? Oak and Grist is offering discounted tours in tasting out in Black Mountain, the Mule will be hosting a Mocktail night, and our friends at Botanist & Barrel, Pleb, and others have a few exciting events to come. 

Don't forget to make plans for downtime and exercise while in Asheville. Hiking and wellness tours will also be offered by Asheville Wellness Tours. And if you are hungry, there are some incredible food pop-ups at breweries around town all week along with beer and wine dinners. These events are sure to sell out. 

● Be sure to checkout events with local favorites: The Mule at Devils Foot Beverage, Hi-Wire, Burial, The Restoration Hotel, Eda Rhyne, New Origin Brewing, Ohanafy, The Whale, White Labs, Kick it Events, Greenman, Highland Brewing, Wicked Weed, Outsider Brewing, DSSLOVR, Innovation Brewing, Botanist & Barrel, Just Brew It, Isa’s Bistro, The Grey Eagle, Asheville Food & Beverage United, Oak & Grist, The Foundry Hotel, Hillman, Asheville Pizza and Brewing, Black Mountain Brewing, Pleb, Aloft Hotel, The Wedge, French Broad Brewery, Stu Helm’s Food Tours, Asheville Detours, Blue Ridge Wine Tours, Wedge Brewing, 7 Clans Brewing, Catawba Brewing, Homeplace Brewing, Sierra Nevada, and more. 

Please drink responsibly and always think about calling a local ride service: Roll with Joel, Asheville Hopper, or Asheville Taxi are some good options.

Sponsorship opportunities are available until April 30 at several levels for media and industry partners including purchased placement in the annual Mountain Xpress Special Beer Week print edition which highlights the events and people behind the Asheville beverage industry. 

Asheville Beer Week 2023 is proud to partner with Sponsors: exactwater, Explore Asheville, Dig Local, Aloft Hotel, FIRC Group's Haywood Park Hotel, Cambria Downtown Asheville and Country Inn & Suites River Arts District, GrindFest, GrownSocial, SeaThirst Creative, White Labs, Henco North, Hi-Wire, and Salvage Station. 

Asheville Beer Week and Asheville Brewers Alliance are proud to align with Community Partners year-round to further build our crafted community: NC Craft Brewers Guild, Asheville Downtown Association, Asheville Ale Trail, and Food Connection. 

Want to know where and when all the fun is? 

Our social media sponsor GrownSocial will be sharing all of the exciting details. Our full event calendar will be listed on Explore Asheville with a mobile-friendly version available for download through our friends at DigLocal. 

Follow Asheville Beer Week on Facebook, and Instagram @avlbeerweek, and by using the hashtag #AVLBeerWeek. 

Believe in the magic of Asheville Beer Week! 

Media Sponsors: Fiasco Pictures, Stephan Pruitt Photography & Authentic Asheville 

About Asheville Brewers Alliance: 

The Alliance was formed in February 2009 as a trade and membership organization dedicated to promoting Western North Carolina craft beer and breweries. The ABA’s primary mission is to promote WNC-crafted beer and provide member education and support. Learn more at AvlBrewers.com.

Source: Asheville Brewers Alliance