Our stay, several meals and tastings were provided as part of a hosted trip coordinated by One For The Books, which also reimbursed our travel costs. Our opinions are our own.
Quick answer
For a whiskey and cocktail weekend in Asheville, stay downtown so you can walk to dinner and drinks, and drive out only on distillery day. Start with oysters at Jettie Rae's and a nightcap at The Montford rooftop bar. On day two, taste Appalachian amaro at Eda Rhyne, eat at Chai Pani, then drive about 25 minutes east to Oak & Grist in Black Mountain, a grain-to-glass single malt distillery, and stay for dinner at Bev's. Finish with breakfast at Biscuit Head and lunch at Soprana before heading home.
Key takeaways
- Base yourself downtown; days one and three are walkable.
- Black Mountain is a 20 to 25 minute drive east and worth a full afternoon.
- Plan a designated driver for distillery day.
- Coming from the west on I-40, budget extra time at the Tennessee line: the Pigeon River Gorge stretch is still one lane each way after Hurricane Helene.
We drove up from Huntsville on Wednesday, November 4, about six hours in heavy rain. The last stretch of I-40, through the Pigeon River Gorge near the Tennessee line, is still down to one lane in each direction where Helene washed the road out in September 2024. It has run that way since it reopened in March 2025, and the state's current target for even a partial return to more lanes is late 2028, WFAE reported in September. You feel what this region has been through before you ever see Asheville.
What we found on the other side was a food-and-drink weekend that rewards slowing down: oysters in the mountains, an amaro maker working with foraged botanicals, and the best distillery of the trip 25 minutes down the road in Black Mountain. Here's how we'd plan it.
Day 1: Where should you stay, eat and drink on your first night in Asheville?
Check in downtown: DoubleTree by Hilton Asheville Downtown
We stayed in a mountain-view suite on Haywood Street. The layout was one we hadn't seen in a hotel before: a small kitchen built like a wet bar, with everything within reach, opening into a living room with an L-shaped couch and a wall-mounted TV. The closet was the biggest we've had in a hotel room, nearly the size of the bathroom, which had a glass-tiled walk-in shower.
An honest note on the view: the windows look past the interstate first. Once the rain cleared, the bedroom's corner window gave close to a 180-degree view of the mountains beyond it.
Our host had a welcome bag waiting at check-in, filled with things made in and around Asheville, from French Broad Chocolate peppermint bark to a Spicewalla mulling spice tin. Then we walked across the street into the Grove Arcade and the Wall Street and Battery Park blocks around it, with a coffee stop at Summit Coffee on the Page Avenue side of the Arcade.
Dinner: Jettie Rae's Oyster House
An oyster house hours from the coast sounds like a gamble. Jettie Rae's, on Charlotte Street, bets on it anyway. It's part of chef Eric Scheffer's Scheffer Group, alongside Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian and Gan Shan West, and the restaurant describes its cooking as drawing on crab shacks, fish stands and the culinary traditions of Spain, Africa, France and the Gullah Geechee. The room is casual. The food is not.
The kitchen sent out its dressed oyster sampler, two each of four styles: Cajun, Italian, an Asian-style one and a smoky bacon one. The Cajun and the Italian were the standouts. The night we visited, the raw bar list included Croatans from the White Oak River on the North Carolina coast.
We ordered the rest ourselves: the crab and corn fried rice, the beet salad, the seared white fish of the day, and tuna on house chips. The crab and corn fried rice is the first thing we'd order again.
For BoozeMakers readers: The house cocktail list leans on classic and national spirits. We had the Harvest Moon (calvados, pear, cardamom, lime, allspice dram and egg white) and the Postcard from Jalisco (reposado tequila, apricot, Ancho Reyes, honey and sage). North Carolina shows up more on the beer list, with DSSOLVR and Burial from Asheville, Fonta Flora from Nebo and a Botanist & Barrel cider, and on the back bar, where you'll find Cook's Mill NC Bourbon and Mother Earth NC Rye.
Nightcap: The Montford Rooftop Bar
The Montford sits on top of the DoubleTree, so the walk home is an elevator ride. It opened in the summer of 2016 and seats 53. For its 10th year it has a new menu, and our host's itinerary says almost every cocktail on it uses a local spirit or other local ingredients.
I asked the bartender to pick a whiskey and drank it neat; Heather had one of the signature cocktails. The night was mild enough that the heaters and wind nets were beside the point, which in early November is luck.
Day 2: Which distilleries should you visit near Asheville?
After breakfast we walked downtown for the morning, then drove to the first tasting of the day.
Midday: Eda Rhyne Distilling Company
Eda Rhyne makes something most distilleries don't: Appalachian takes on Italian amaro, built on foraged local botanicals. Its tasting room is at 101 Fairview Road and opens at 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday, according to its website; check the hours before you plan a midday stop.
Ours was a short tasting, one or two pours, and the Appalachian Fernet is the one that stuck. We didn't buy a bottle this time.
Plan a designated driver before this stop. The rest of the day involves more tasting and a drive.
Lunch: Chai Pani
Chai Pani's menu comes styled like a vintage Indian matchbox label, which tells you the tone before you order. We started with chaat, then had a thali and the Sloppy Jai. It was the right amount of fuel before an afternoon of tasting.
Afternoon: Oak & Grist Distilling, Black Mountain
Drive about 25 minutes east to Black Mountain for the best distillery of the trip, and the one worth the drive on its own. Oak & Grist makes single malt whiskey and a whiskey-based genever from North Carolina barley grown in Shelby and malted in Asheville, distilled in pot stills on site. Founder William Goldberg walked us from wort to a nine-year single malt, and his explanation of why North Carolina whiskey can mature twice as fast as Scotch is worth hearing in person.
Start with Origin, the core single malt. The 9 Year was $122.95 and the Barrel Reserve Genever $76; we bought the genever, because we liked it more in the glass. If you're a whiskey drinker who doubts American single malt, this is the place to test that.
Read our full interview with William Goldberg for the whole story and our Oak & Grist distillery review for what we tasted. If the genever surprises you, our explainer on genever vs gin covers what's in the bottle.
Explore downtown Black Mountain
Black Mountain is a mountain town with the tourist edges filed off. We walked into Town Hardware & General Store, along the galleries on Cherry Street and into a coffee shop before dinner. For the full afternoon, see our Black Mountain day trip.
Dinner: Bev's Steak
Bev's is easy to miss: it sits in the basement of a 1920s building at 117 Cherry Street, down a long staircase from the street. Inside, it's a brick-walled room with stained wood, brass, leather and antiques. According to the restaurant, Jake and Ali Whitman opened it in December 2025 and named it for Jake's late grandmother, Beverly. Jake has cooked in the area for more than 25 years, and Bev's is his third restaurant. Ali, a Black Mountain native, sourced the vintage furnishings. The restaurant says Beverly's enthusiasm for Iron Chef Japan is what first drew Jake to Asian flavors and techniques, and that thread runs through a menu that includes koji-marinated ribeye, North Carolina wagyu from Brasstown Beef, elk loin, hamachi crudo and Japanese milk bread, with ramen and prime rib as weekly specials.
I had the wagyu and Heather had seafood, with a whiskey sour in an egg-white coupe and a French 75 in a flute. The room is small, about 58 seats including the bar according to the restaurant, and it was half empty on our Thursday, but our host booked it for us, and we'd reserve ahead.
If you tasted earlier in the day, give yourself time before the drive back to Asheville.
Day 3: How should you spend your last day in Asheville?
We checked out and went to Biscuit Head for breakfast, then to Provisions Modern-Day Mercantile at 728 Haywood Road in West Asheville. It's the shop whose stationery our host used for her welcome note, and she told us it helped her put the welcome bag together.
Lunch: Soprana Rooftop Cucina
Soprana sits on the roof of the Embassy Suites at 192 Haywood Street. It's a Recommended restaurant in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide American South, announced in October (Fox Carolina). Its menu leans on regional producers, including Asheville Bee Charmer hot honey, North Carolina truffles and Chop Shop Butchery meats, and it calls its style "Alps-meets-Appalachia" modern Italian. According to the restaurant, lunch runs Friday through Sunday, dinner runs seven days a week, and reservations are recommended.
We split the Asheville pepperoni pizza, with one cocktail and one non-alcoholic drink for the driver, and then went straight home.
If you have more time
Asheville's beer scene
Asheville is as much a beer town as a spirits town. Even the Jettie Rae's beer list leaned local, with DSSOLVR and Burial from Asheville and Fonta Flora from nearby Nebo. We didn't fit in a brewery this trip.
More cocktail bars and wine bars
Our host also recommended these, which we'd put on the list for a return trip. We haven't visited them, so check that each is open before you go:
- Cocktails: Hotel Eve Jazz Club, Red Ribbon Society, Antidote, Sovereign Remedies
- Wine and bubbles: 5 Walnut, Botanist & Barrel, Battery Park Book Exchange
- Distilleries: Chemist downtown and Cultivated Cocktails in East Asheville
- Coffee: Rowan, Farewell, High Five
- Sweets: French Broad Chocolate Lounge, Old Europe
Tips for planning your own trip
- Who it suits: couples within a half-day drive who want a food-and-drink weekend without a flight.
- Getting there: From Huntsville it took us about six hours in heavy rain. On I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge, expect one lane each way.
- Getting around: Downtown is walkable for days one and three. You'll want a car for the distilleries and Black Mountain.
- Drinking and driving: Pick your designated driver before distillery day. Tasting pours add up fast across two stops.
- Buying bottles: North Carolina sells liquor through state ABC stores. Oak & Grist also sells bottles in its tasting room, which is where the limited single barrels are.
- When to go: Early November was warmer than we expected, and the crowds were gone.
Frequently asked questions
What distilleries are near Asheville?
How far is Black Mountain from Asheville?
Is Oak & Grist worth the drive from Asheville?
Where should you stay for an Asheville distillery weekend?
Related reading
- Why North Carolina Whiskey Can Mature Twice as Fast as Scotch
- American Single Malt Has No Minimum Age. Here Is What the Label Does Guarantee
- A Black Mountain Day Trip
Sources
- I-40 lane status and repair timeline: WFAE, September 3, 2026
- Eda Rhyne tasting room: Eda Rhyne
- Soprana's MICHELIN listing: Fox Carolina, October 22, 2026
- Bev's history: the restaurant's media kit
Rob Boirun is the editor of BoozeMakers.com, where he covers craft distilleries, spirits and the people who make them. He visited Asheville and Black Mountain, North Carolina, in November 2026.