We are going back in time a little bit with this post!! On March 7th, a group of friends and I attended the Carolina Small Batch Beer Festival held at Hi-Wire Brewing Big Top in Asheville. There were over 20 breweries there offering tastes of their beers. With our tickets, we got tokens to try two beers, and a complimentary glass, which was really cool! We, of course, bought more tokens for more beers, because there were so many to try!
The event drew a pretty decent crowd, even though it was cold. There was live music throughout the day and food trucks to keep us full. I ended up trying four beers. The first was the Saison, pictured above, from Fullsteam Brewery located in Durham, NC. The second was Birdsong Brewing Company’s Purple Rain Sour Ale with Blueberries and Strawberries; refreshing and not too overpoweringly sour. The third was the Belgian Golden Strong from Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain, NC. And the fourth was Zillicoah’s Pecan Smoked Lager; an interesting combination of sweet and smoky. I wanted a brisket to go along with it. Haha!
After getting our fill of beer, we decided we were hungry and went to White Labs Kitchen and Tap for some food. White Labs is a yeast and fermentation company. Foods have a fermented twist, offering menu items with their own yeast, and fermented dough and sauces. I had a burger made with fermented dough, and fries. The burger was perfect, and the fermented bun was a cool combination of sweet and sour. Also, they brought us water in a beaker, so what’s not to love?
After dinner we made an Ingles stop so Reanna could get the fixins for her marry-me pasta, then headed up the mountain. Cody, Todd, and I decided to take a little sunset hike before dinner, and boy, was it worth it.
It is amazing to me how quickly the sun sets up there, and how different the scenery can look from one minute to the next. It was a beautiful sunset. After the hike we headed back to the house and spent the evening playing card games and drinking beer from Jaime and Todd’s massive collection. And of course, eating Reanna’s pasta, which was everything I had hoped it would be. You’ve got a gift, girl.
Sunday morning, we woke up and had breakfast before going into Pisgah National Forest to chase some waterfalls. Jaime, Todd, Cody, and I loaded into the car and headed down the mountain. I think we ended up visiting 7 waterfalls. They were mostly a short hike from the road with drives in between, but super fun hikes on a beautiful day!
The cool and scary thing about hiking around waterfalls, and in the mountains in early March, is that there is still ice! All over the place. In the shade. On rocks you have to climb over! So during one of the hikes, at the top of the waterfall, after climbing over some big rocks with some ice on them, we decided the easiest way to the bottom was getting across the stream to the other bank. There was a jump from the middle of the stream to the bank. At the top of the waterfall. With rocks at the bottom. And ice, guys. Did I mention there was ice? So there I was, standing in the middle of a stream with a leap of faith in front of me leading to an easy path, or a difficult climb down a waterfall behind me. I spent awhile gearing myself up, imagining that if I didn’t make it, I would twist my ankle and crack my head open on a rock. Jaime did it first and just made it! Finally, I made the leap, I landed, I fell forward into the rock I was supposed to fall forward into, dry and safe, and I got cheered on! I climbed up the rock onto the path and took the easy way down, feeling on top of the world.
Sometimes you have to take a scary leap of faith to get on the path you’re supposed to be on.
And isn’t that why I did this anyway?? 🙂
Until next time, cheers! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day, y’all!
ShutterbugRN Travels 