Asheville, N.C., just keeps getting more attractive.

We liked the town a dozen years ago when we passed through - nice setting, good brewing scene (starting with Highland Brewing), fine places to drink beer, good live music, good restaurants.

I was reminded up this last week while reading a post at Accidental Hedonist about keeping food local.

And as I was taken around through the neighborhoods to talk with various food entrepreneurs and advocates, one thing became very clear to me. A community gets the food culture it deserves.

Those involved in the food in Asheville have worked hard to lessen the influence of big business has had upon their community. And don’t be fooled, big food has a strong presence in the area, especially the further away one is from down town. But there is a strong, concerted effort to mitigate their influence.

But back to beer. The Asheville Beer Blog reports a place called the Thirsty Monk will open soon. It will serve eight Belgian beers on tap and offer a wide selection by the bottle.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 9:31 am and is filed under American style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.