Driving cross-country earlier this year, I made an overnight pit-stop in Lawrence, Ks., to break up the ride and enjoy a couple cold ones at Free State Brewing Co. I walked into the busy brewpub and met up with Head Brewer Geoff Deman and began telling him about my trip, and that I had just driven straight through from my home near Asheville, N.C.
“Oh man,” Deman replied, “I should have asked you to bring some Wicked Weed beers with you.”
“Well,” I shot back, “it just so happens I’ve got a bottle of Serenity outside in my cooler!”
With a gleam in his eye and a smile creasing his face, Deman immediately picked up his phone and called a few of his staff members, who rushed down to Free State on their night off to get a sample of Wicked Weed’s Brett beer that earned gold for the rookie brewery at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival.
The fact that a then 15-month-old brewpub, distributing only in North Carolina, had garnered that kind of reverence from a fellow brewer 900 miles away says a lot about the instant punch Wicked Weed has packed since opening its doors in late December 2012.
With several projects in the works to keep the brewery moving forward, Wicked Weed hopes its reputation continues to spread beyond Asheville’s bubbly city limits, while not losing sight of what created that reputation in the first place.
“It’s a very controlled, niche market kind of growth, so that we can keep that quality that we love,” said Abby Dickinson, one of the six partners of Wicked Weed along with her husband, Head Brewer Luke Dickinson. “That’s our thing, that’s our wheelhouse. We’re not the next Sierra Nevada, the next New Belgium – at least the five-year plan is not that. We love breweries like Russian River that are making niche-market beer and making a name because of it.”
The brewery is housed in a 1920s-era building on Biltmore Avenue that was previously home to Asheville Hardware. Next door is the nationally-renowned Orange Peel music club. The Dickinsons, along with Luke’s brother, Walt, their lifelong friend, Ryan Guthy, and Guthy’s parents, Rick and Denise, put a lot of thought, a lot of heart and a lot of money into the transformation of the two-story structure, and it shows.
The main, street-level floor hosts Wicked Weed’s full-service bar, restaurant and outside patio.The exposed-brick walls are punctuated by a large caricature of King Henry VIII. Wicked Weed, is named after a quote from the king that declared hops a “wicked and pernicious weed” destined to ruin beer.
The downstairs has a more rustic, beer-centric feel. Decorative barrels adorn the bar and tasting room that adjoin the 15-barrel brew house, another outside seating area and a climate-controlled open fermentation room where Wicked Weed’s prized sour beers are born and bred.
Buoyed by a massive response to its beer tent at the annual Brewgrass Festival three months earlier, Wicked Weed opened to large fanfare with nearly 20 house beers on tap right out of the gate. Eighteen months later, the buzz has not subsided, and it is often difficult to find a seat there on weekends.
The two dozen brews Wicked Weed has on at any given time are as diverse as the city the brewery calls home. From the classic West coast-style Freak of Nature Double IPA to a rotating family of unique saisons and other one-off specialties such as French Toast Stout, there is something for every palate. Despite the eclectic lineup, one uniform quality among almost all of Wicked Weed’s beers is high yeast attenuation leading to crisp, dry and supremely drinkable brews.
The Funkatorium
Barrel-aged beers are a main forces of the brewery, particularly sour and wild ales. So much so, Wicked Weed is set to open a second facility just a few blocks away called The Funkatorium. Located on Coxe Avenue, smack in the middle of downtown Asheville’s South Slope neighborhood, the barrel house and sour tasting room is scheduled to open in early August 2014.
The back of the 12,000 square-foot space is already filled with Wicked Weed’s 350 barrels, which were previously stored in a facility 20 minutes away.
Customers will be able to walk in to the front bar area, order from a sour-focused list of a dozen or so taps, or from a vintage bottle selection, and enjoy a glass surrounded by the charming wooden vessels.
“That’s the goal, to be in the location where these beers are produced–where they live and breathe and become what they are,” Abby Dickinson said as she gazed at the wall-to-wall wood display during an informal tour of the facility.
The Funkatorium will also feature an expanded version of the main brewpub’s bite menu, including hard cheese, cured meats, salads and marinated vegetables on baguette.
“The framework is a traditional, street-side tapas menu,” said Head Chef Cardiff Creasy, “but steered by Wicked Weed’s style. Since sour beers are over-the-top, we want to make food that will stand up to that.”
And live up to the Wicked Weed name.
“We always strive to do everything to the best of our ability, from the beer to the décor to the staff, so it’s going to be a beautiful space,” Abby Dickinson said. “That is who we are, so this (Funkatorium) isn’t going to differ from the mother ship.”
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