Day trip: Your guide to Hendersonville’s craft beverage scene

It’s easy to speed past the Hendersonville exits on Interstate 26 on the way to Asheville’s breweries. But when you do, you’ve missed an opportunity to visit six breweries and cideries and two wineries in the Hendersonville area. With live music, food trucks and tours available, why drive the extra distance to Asheville?

Hendersonville’s downtown is charming with restaurants and shops along tree-lined streets, but its blossoming craft beverage scene is bringing in newcomers. The tourism board with the help of local businesses is bringing attention to what the area has to offer by sponsoring events that highlight the craft beverage scene.

The first Apple County Cider Jam was held at the end of April this year. Event planners expected 800 in attendance, but more than 1,200 people attended. The festival featured hard cider from local and regional vendors, music and food. Plans are already underway for next year’s event.

Also on the calendar is the free event Rhythm & Brews, offered every third Thursday, May through September, in downtown Hendersonville. Local beer, wine and cider as well as music is available.

Gary Clancy, owner of The Brewery Experience, a brewery tour operation, said “We have a really exciting craft beverage scene going on here.”

Clancy is a certified cicerone (the beer equivalent of a sommelier) and offers public and private customized tours to the wineries, breweries and cideries in the Henderson County region. Tours are three to four hours and include a flight at each of the three locations, snacks and a chance to meet the brewer or winemaker behind each location ($59-$79 per person).

Here’s your guide to the Hendersonville area craft beverage scene:

Cideries

Cideries are popping up in Henderson County, taking advantage of the local apple produce. The county is the seventh largest apple producer in the country. Bold Rock’s Carolina Apple and Flat Rock Cider Works’ Blackberry Gold feature apples from the local farms.

Jim Sparks, long-time Hendersonville resident, opened Flat Rock Cider Works Tap Room in downtown Hendersonville. This cidery won two double-blue ribbons in the last two Cider Festivals of North Carolina.

“Our apple is our flagship and everything else is added to that,” said Sparks. “And as we add flavoring like blackberry and the different flavors, it just changes the complexity of the cider.”

Visit: 

Flat Rock Cider Works, 305 N Main St, Hendersonville, NC 28792

Bold Rock Hard Cider, 72 School House Rd., Mills River, NC 28759

Appalachian Ridge Artisan Ciders (opening early 2018) 731 Chestnut Gap Road, Hendersonville, 28792

Breweries

Southern Appalachian Brewery, located in the old Coca-Cola bottling factory in Hendersonville, opened six years ago as the first brewery in the county. Owners Kelly and Andy Cubbin paved the way for other breweries to open by working with local government on building codes and existing laws. ​

“We were the first ones in the county and had to deal with a lot of pre-existing laws and building department laws and didn’t really fit for what we wanted to do,” said Kelly. ​”We had to do a lot of back-and-forth with Raleigh to get some things changed and the local government was incredible in helping us do that.”

Visit: 

Southern Appalachian Brewery, 822 Locust St, Hendersonville, NC 28792

Blue Ghost Brewing Company, 125 Underwood Rd, Fletcher, NC 28732

Sanctuary Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave E., Hendersonville, NC 28792

Sierra Nevada Brewery, 100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, NC 28732

Wineries

Many people avoid wines made with North Carolina’s muscadine and scuppernong grapes because the perception is that they’re too sweet. Some are; however, there are vineyards in Henderson County growing vinifera grapes (a common grape vine grown in Europe) and producing classic and semi-sweet wines. The wineries have outdoor patios and tasting areas with views of the countryside and the mountains beyond.

Preston Thomas is the winemaker at Burntshirt Vineyards. He was trained in Amador County in the California Sierra Foothills, and then decided to come to North Carolina.

“I saw North Carolina as an opportunity to do something different,” said Thomas. “We have a great group of people here and great owners [Lemuel and Sandra Oates] who support us in all our endeavors.”

Visit: 

Burntshirt Vineyards, 2695 Sugarloaf Rd, Hendersonville, NC 28792

Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards, 588 Chestnut Gap Rd, Hendersonville, NC 28792

​Next time you’re on Interstate 26, take a detour to Hendersonville and visit one of these fine establishments.

Photos: Sam Dean, Chris Schenck, Vanessa Infanzon

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Day trip: Your guide to Hendersonville’s craft beverage scene."