Wrapping up the beer travelogue of my Spring Break road trip by offering some North Carolina brews and views…

After spending a morning hiking around Chimney Rock State Park and enjoying the views…

…it was time for lunch and beer at one of my favorite Asheville beer destinations: Wicked Weed Brewery.

Wicked Weed is a favorite because the beer menu is full of my two favorite beer styles – India Pale Ales and Belgian Ales. And the food is fantastic too! Since Wicked Weed doesn’t serve flights on the weekends, I drank half-pints of:

• Day Walker (6.5%), brewed with 12 pounds of crystallized and fresh ginger
• Freak of Nature (8.5%), this Double IPA is Wicked Weed’s hoppiest ale
• Lupulin Lab (7.0%), brewed with an experimental hop
• Cali Orange Pale Ale (6.5%), the brewers zested an “absurd amount of fresh oranges directly into the boil of this beer”
• Coffee Saison (6.8%), “a beer that bursts with tart berry and bitter chocolate coffee notes shining through the plum and lemon pepper profile of the Saison”

The next stop after Wicked Weed saw me check another brewery off my to-do list: Wedge Brewing Company. Wedge is located in a warehouse in Asheville’s River Arts District, and features a large outdoor beer garden in front of the brewery. I sampled four Wedge brews, including the excellent Iron Rail IPA (7.0%).

When I wasn’t touring around Asheville sampling beer at breweries and brew pubs, I was drinking cans of local beer at my campsite, including these brews from Oskar Blues Brewing Company, Pisgah Brewing Company, Asheville Brewing Company, and French Broad Brewing Company.

Other beer highlights from Spring Break 2014:

• Lunch and a six-beer flight at Lexington Avenue Brewery in downtown Asheville
• Pints and a growler fill of Schwarzbier from Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain
• Cans of Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale and White Zombie White Ale from Catawba Brewing Company (Morganton) at the campsite
• Cans of Gateway Kölsch and 13 Rebels ESB from French Broad Brewing Company (Asheville) at the campsite
• A six-pack of Get Bent Mountain IPA from Parkway Brewing Company (Salem, VA) – thanks Jen!

During my time in North Carolina, I sampled 62 beers and visited 5 breweries and 4 brewpubs. Add that to my Tennessee totals, and my Spring Break 2014 totals are off the charts: 83 beers sampled and visits to 5 breweries and 6 brewpubs!

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