Our distillery visit and dinner 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
Black Mountain, North Carolina, is a small mountain town about 20 to 25 minutes east of Asheville. For an easy day trip, start mid-afternoon at Oak & Grist Distilling, a grain-to-glass single malt distillery, walk the downtown shops before dinner, then eat at Bev's, a basement steakhouse on Cherry Street that opened in December 2025.
Black Mountain is a mountain town with the tourist edges filed off. It has a general store, a street of galleries and a single malt distillery good enough to build the afternoon around. If you're planning a longer trip, this afternoon is day two of an Asheville long weekend for whiskey and cocktail lovers.
Start at Oak & Grist Distilling
Oak & Grist sits on Grovestone Road, a short drive from downtown. It's a grain-to-glass distillery: the barley comes from a family farm in Shelby, North Carolina, gets malted at Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, and is mashed, fermented, distilled in pot stills and aged on site. Founder William Goldberg opened it with the stills first running in 2017.
The tasting flight runs from a whiskey-based genever to a nine-year single malt. If you're new to the lineup, Goldberg often starts American drinkers on Descendent, the single malt closest to bourbon. Origin, the lighter Speyside-style malt, is the one he started the distillery to make. The difference is in the recipe and the wood: Origin uses a single pale malt aged entirely in used bourbon barrels, while Descendent combines light and dark malts and ages mostly in new oak.
For what we tasted, read our Oak & Grist review; for the full story, read our interview with William Goldberg.
Book the tour or tasting ahead through Oak & Grist's site, and check its current hours before you go.
Walk downtown Black Mountain
Between the distillery and dinner, we walked into Town Hardware & General Store, worked along the galleries on Cherry Street and stopped for coffee. The one place not to skip in Black Mountain isn't downtown, though: it's Oak & Grist.
Dinner at Bev's Steak
At 117 Cherry Street, a long staircase leads down from the sidewalk into the basement of a 1920s building. That's Bev's. According to the restaurant, Jake and Ali Whitman opened it in December 2025 as a fine-dining take on the classic steakhouse, and named it for Jake's late grandmother, Beverly. The restaurant says Jake has been a chef in the area for more than 25 years and that Bev's is his third restaurant; before it, he led kitchens including The Admiral, Zambra, Copper Crown, Native Kitchen and Pure & Proper. Ali, a Black Mountain native, worked in art galleries and advised private collectors before building a real estate career, and she sourced the furnishings through estate and vintage finds: stained wood, brass, leather and antiques.
According to the restaurant, cooking with his grandmother, whose enthusiasm for Iron Chef Japan rubbed off on him, is what first drew Jake to Asian flavors and techniques. The menu pairs steakhouse cuts with that influence: koji-marinated ribeye, North Carolina wagyu from Brasstown Beef, elk loin, duck breast, Iberico pork presa, hamachi crudo and chirashi bowls, with sides like Murasaki sweet potatoes, blue corn grits and steak fries with chili crisp aioli. Ramen and prime rib run as weekly specials, and there's a seasonal patio.
I had the wagyu; Heather went with seafood. The drinks came in proper glassware: a whiskey sour in an egg-white coupe and a French 75 in a flute.
The dining room is small: about 58 seats including the bar, plus a seasonal patio, according to the restaurant. It was half empty on the Thursday we went, but don't read that as a reason to walk in: our host booked the table for us, and with a room this size we'd reserve ahead, especially on a weekend.
Plan your visit
- Getting there: About 20 to 25 minutes east of Asheville by car.
- Timing: Start at the distillery mid-afternoon, leave an hour or so for downtown, then dinner. Call Bev's at 828-357-5222 or check bevsrestaurant.com for reservations. Reserve ahead; the room is small.
- Driving: If you're tasting at Oak & Grist, plan a designated driver for the ride back.
Frequently asked questions
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Related reading
Rob Boirun is the editor of BoozeMakers.com, where he covers craft distilleries, spirits and the people who make them. He visited Black Mountain, North Carolina, in November 2026.