Cocktails, wine and locally distilled spirits go down easy

THE GOLDEN PINEAPPLE PHOTO COURTESY OF GOLDEN PINEAPPLE

BY KAY WEST

In Asheville, you can’t swing a pint glass without hitting a brewery, but there are plenty of other engaging establishments that invite you to belly up to their bars to imbibe crafted cocktails, distilled spirits and wine by the glass, flight or bottle.

• Longtime Asheville mixologists Katey Ryder and Donnie Pratt built a fervent following over the years working in various locales, a fan base that celebrated the grand opening of

The Golden Pineapple in spring 2019. While the bar was closed by COVID-19 in 2020, the dynamic duo passed the time creating a new menu of fruit-forward drinks and classic cocktails, adding an adult beverage slushie machine and a shot chiller for its local Eda Rhyne spirits.

• Country came to town when Botanist & Barrel of Cedar Grove opened a tasting bar and bottle shop on Broadway. With two taps for their line of DéFi wines as well as beer and cider taps, visitors will find a well-rounded tasting experience.

• It’s a wide, wild world of spirits out there, so sometimes it makes sense to head right to the source by visiting local

distilleries’ dedicated cocktails bars and tasting rooms. Cultivated Cocktails — founded as H&H Distillery — rebranded and expanded to downtown Asheville in 2019. Its impressive repertoire of products, including rum, gin, whiskey, coffee liqueur and creme de cacao, is showcased in boozy beverages covering breakfast to happy hour. On the South Slope, Prohibition-era themed Antidote cocktail bar offers guests a view of Chemist Spirits distillery next door while sipping a cocktail, such as the South Slope Tiki with Chemist Spirits 151 gin or a chocolate-orange negroni with Chemist Chocolate-Orange Gin Liqueur. Barrel on over to Eda Rhyne Distilling Co. near Biltmore Village for a tasting-room tutorial on the company’s locally sourced fernet, amaro and newly released Amaro Pop and Lindera vodka.

• Touring the massive Biltmore Estate mansion and grounds can work up a powerful thirst. Quench it on-site at the Biltmore

Winery, where guests can sip, swirl and sniff with a winetasting experience or quaff by the glass or bottle. Located in a cinderblock building across the road from the French

Broad River in the River Arts District, Plēb Urban Winery is Asheville’s only in-town vintner. Book a flight to sample several of its varietals or fill a growler to take on a picnic.

Bottle Riot sounds loud, but in fact, the plush-yet-rustic wine bar is a sanctuary of intimate gathering pods inside and outside on the covered deck, patio and around the fire. Along with a vast menu of wines by the glass and bottle, Bottle

Riot offers a streamlined selection of snacks and entrees from

Strada Italiano chef Anthony Cerrato.

• In your rush to check out S&W Market — Asheville’s first food hall — make time for The Times Bar next door. The

Times weathered the pandemic by pivoting to a coffee shop and has since switched back to a menu of signature seasonal cocktails, mocktails and boozy coffee drinks offered in a swanky space that feels as old and new as Manhattan itself.

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