| Tony Kiss,the Carolina Beer Guy, said
it well, "Sierra's new Taproom and Restaurant is unlike any craft brew attraction around here." It is practically our neighbor, only 5 miles down Brevard Road then left on Old Fanning Bridge road for a couple of miles. It seems closer since there isn't much between here and there. The brewery opened for tours last year and the taproom opened just this month. So Jodee and I planned a visit to both last week. As soon as we hit the round-about in the middle of nowhere and headed up their landscaped drive it was obvious this was not a struggling operation. From the solar panels in the parking lot to the many copper covered beer kettles it is all a very tasteful work of art. Tony called it the beer temple but maybe the "Biltmore Estate" of breweries would be a better local description. The restaurant itself is worth the trip,
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The Fried Chicken Donut Sandwich
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offering a mouth-watering lineup of high-end pub grub like the Fried Chicken and Doughnut Sandwich (which our waiter said had become a local favorite) to healthier choices like Fire Roasted Carrots or Wild Mushrooms. And of course plenty of beer choices. It seats 400 and is decorated with massive wood planks, copper everywhere and heavy duty metalwork. We arrived a bit early for lunch on a drizzling, chilly March, Thursday with few other guests there. By the time lunch was over the place was humming and nearly 3/4 full. The employees were all friendly, knowledgeable and seemed to be proud to be there. We have heard that week end nights are already packed and I am sure will only get busier. I could not say enough good things about
the tour. Jodee and I are not big beer connoisseurs but it held our interest for the entire 90 minutes. It is an intriguing human success story. There are only 12 people to a tour. It starts with a Hollywood quality video of the history and philosophy of Ken Grossman, his friends and employees. You see the complex process from start to finish with the latest equipment (but covered in old copper) and finish with a more than generous tasting of a large selection of their product. We highly recommend the experience, just be sure to book well in advance. Click on any of the photos to visit their website. |
Center offered us two, beginning classes in Off Hand Glassblowing at their school in the River Arts district. Jodee passed the invitations on to our loyal and very deserving employees, Lisa Webb and Lisa Cutshall. They were thrilled to have the opportunity. Back at work they showed us the beautiful, stemless wine glasses each produced and were excited to tell us about what fun they had. However, they admitted with the furnace, the flames and blowing into molten glass at 2300 degress at the end of a rod, it was a bit intimidating. Evidently not too intimidating for them to accept the
invitations again this year. Earlier this month they made striking paperweights with clear glass encasing swirls of multi colored glass they created by rolling the glass in various coloring agents . They were much more comfortable around the equipment and the teacher and seemed to enjoy the experience even more.
