Asheville's Innovative Drinking Scene

Original Article: A Guide to Asheville’s Innovative Drinking Scene
By Matt Kirouac, The Culture Trip

With more breweries per capita than almost any other city in the country, Asheville has long been known as a craft beer hub, and the city continues to innovate in the drinks department by utilizing local Appalachian ingredients.

Of late, the North Carolina city has welcomed a wide variety of new entries, raising the bar with unique beer bars and outlets focusing on sake, wine, gin and more.

Gin takes the stage at The Chemist, a suave new tasting room from Apothecary Beverage Company | © The Chemist

If there’s one drink more synonymous with Appalachia than beer, it’s moonshine. A new wave of distillers in Asheville is incorporating local ingredients to create spirits that are as pure as they are delicious. One recent example is The Chemist, a gin-focused tasting room from Apothecary Beverage Company. The downtown bar features a polished motif inspired by pre-Prohibition apothecaries, including glass-enclosed cabinets reminiscent of vintage pharmacy shelves – but in this case, citrusy gin line the shelves. Trinkets like barware, aprons and accessories, all of which are available for purchase, fill the other shelves.

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