Burial Beer Company on the South Slope at 40 Collier Avenue is one of the many excellent brewery taprooms in Asheville. They have a great outside space on three sides of the taproom and plenty of seating at the bar inside. The place is described as being a bit industrial inside, but I found it to be like sitting in a workshop for beer, and it was quite a warm and friendly atmosphere

Foodwise they are hosts to Salt & Smoke who describe themselves as

“Salt & Smoke has an ever changing menu that explores the link between old world european traditions and their chef’s southern roots.  The streamlined menu utilizes the bountiful products of the region, highlights charcuteries, and promotes honest food that lends excellent pairings to Burial’s brews.”

I heard that they had started out as ‘food buskers’ turning up to Burial where they cooked up food and sold it for whatever people would throw into the bucket. They then progressed to the slightly more solid wooden cabin that they affixed to the back of the brewery where they have set up camp.

Menu at Salt & Smoke

I was pretty impressed with the Salt & Smoke menu and I kind of wish that I lived a lot closer to Asheville so that I could come back and sample a lot of the stuff that they had on offer.

Stand out items were the “Cohon de Lait Po’Boy” especially as it was described as being served on a ledenheimer Roll (perfect!) and the “Quail a la Waldorf” which just sounded to be a real foodies option (even though I am more of an eaty!)

I wish I had been brave enough to try the “Smoked Bone Marrow” which was described as being served with ‘shallot jam, parsley salad, grilled baguette’. I saw one served up and the description did not do it justice, the plate was of a bone sliced through the middle filled with marrow and side of salad and bread to dip.

I imagined that once all the marrow had been scooped out that you could do a bourbon shooter down the bone pipe just to finish off the meal.

I played it much safer

Goujonettes

I just ordered the very simple sounding Goujonettes which turned out to a small plate of Fried Cod Fish sticks, served with a nest of shoestring fries and a pot of rather excellent tartar sauce.

The Fish was pretty nice, coated in a light golden breadcrumb and was perfectly moist and juicy inside. There was not much of it on the plate, but what was there was a perfectly acceptable snack to go with my beer.

The fries really were of the matchstick level of thinness and really seemed to be more of a garnish than a side. They were nice though when dipped into the creamy tartar sauce

Burial Beer

They really did have an excellent selection of Beers at the Burial Beer Company Taproom. There was a very polite line of punters queuing up to order that stretched out the door. I just sat up at the bar and was served straight away, this was not my ‘first trip to the rodeo’.

Keepers Veil

I ordered a glass of the Honey Saison called ‘Keeper’s Veil’. It might look a bit thick and cloudy, however it was nice and tart and crisp, and I found it to be quite the refreshing drink and very easy to drink.

According to a description I read, this Farmhouse Brew is ‘born of raised Carolina barley, wheat and honey and brewed with chamomile, hibiscus, rose, passion flower, heather, elderflower, lavender’

If I am totally honest I did not get all of that from my tastebuds, I did get a bit of honey and what I thought was a touch of orange citrus on my palate.

I guess that is why I am not in advertising 

  More Pumps at the Back

After I had dodged the experience of the line at the front door, I had sauntered glass in hand out to the patio at the back of the taproom where I found this bar with no line, no punters and a barman happy to supply me with more beer.

Perhaps this is supposed to be a well kept secret?

Either way it just shows that you should not just be a sheep and join the end of the first line that you see 🙂

Especially when there is just a finite amount of valuable Asheville Brewery beer supping time available!

I really enjoyed my visit to Burial Beer Company and Salt & Smoke

The people were very friendly and I spent a happy hour or so munching away, sipping beer and chatting to the locals sitting outside in the beautiful patio on one of the many wooden trestle tables. It is well worth a visit!

Both Places are located at

40 Collier Ave
Asheville, NC  28801

Check Burial Beer Company out on their Twitter Feed and their Facebook Page

Check out Salt & Smoke on their Facebook page