ASHEVILLE - Asheville Ale Trail joined with Shay & Company and Devil's Foot Beverage Co. to help sponsor the AVL Food Series.

The AVL Food Series is a monthly celebration of culinary excellence and community spirit. At the heart of Asheville's thriving food scene, the AVL Food Series at Devil’s Foot Beverage's tasting room, The Mule transforms ordinary evenings into extraordinary culinary adventures. This event series leverages an inviting atmosphere with vibrant flavors that make Asheville a food lover's paradise. In April, the event series will be host to a Chef Experience Dinner with Chef Cleophus Hethington.

Cleophus Hethington was most recently Chef de Cuisine at Counter in Charlotte,  an intimate, full-sensory dining experience featuring themed, rotating tasting menus. A Miami native, with a passion for sharing the flavors, ingredients, and dishes from across the African diaspora, Hethington's culinary journey has taken him around the world.

With a lifelong affinity for cooking, Hethington, affectionately known as "Chef Ophus", began his career in the US Navy, where he served for five years as a hospital corpsman, later moving on to study public health at the University of Miami, from which he graduated in 2007. Known amongst his friends as an excellent home cook, Hethington later pivoted and decided to pursue his dream of becoming a professional chef. Hethington jumped headfirst into the industry by accepting an internship on the opening team at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar in Miami Beach, thus launching his new career.

Following his stint at Yardbird, Hethington Cooked at acclaimed restaurants across the country and world, including The Cypress Room, Alter by Brad Kilgore, Matador Room by Jean-Georges inside the Miami Beach Edition Hotel, Le Sirenuse in Positano (Italy), Four Seasons Surf Club, D.O.M. (Sao Paul, Brazil), The Optimist, and Laxy Betty in Atlanta. In 2019, he started Ebi Chop Bar, a pop-up dinner series celebrating the foodways of the African diaspora, which debuted to much acclaim.

This event is produced by Shay & Company at Devil's Foot Beverage at The Mule  

For information and announcements regarding further AVL Food Series events, visit: ShayBrownEvents.com/Avl-Food-Series.