Here’s the way those good times roll. As we have done in the previous two years, we are publishing a map of the 18 counties of Western North Carolina, with Jennifer’s listing of all breweries, wineries, distilleries, and cideries dotting this corner of the state.

Antidote Cocktail Lounge looks as though it's stood on the South Slope for 100 years. That is, if it wasn't for the fading smell of wood stain, the too smooth walls, the USB port and outlets embedded in each table top

The Chemist, other new distilleries, part of Asheville craft spirit boom by Asheville Citizen Times

What is a Negroni and why is it so special? Back in Florence, Italy in 1919, Count Camilo Negroni took his love for an Americano cocktail and had his bartender replace the soda water for gin. And, the rest is history.

In 2019 there are plenty of new options, new alternatives, and new destinations for the dedicated and adventurous drinker.

The folks at Apothecary Beverage Company, producers of Chemist Gin, have studied this art form through years of research at wineries and distilleries in California, France and Scotland.

If there’s one drink more synonymous with Appalachia than beer, it’s moonshine. A new wave of distillers in Asheville is incorporating local ingredients to create spirits that are as pure as they are delicious.

Explore one of the distilleries fueling Asheville’s recent craft-spirit boom. The Chemist is a South Slope gin distillery with a tasting room outfitted as a Prohibition-era apothecary.

Every season is a good season for cocktails. But while winter begs for slow-sipping, stirred drinks with warm spices like clove and allspice or shrubs from vinegared preserves, summer calls for brighter flavors — the sharp acidity of citrus, melons and berries fresh from the harvest, shaken until ice cold.