-Arcade Asheville closing: Leonard Poe, a co-owner of Arcade Asheville, confirmed on Thursday that the bar will close following a New Year’s Eve blowout bash. The downtown bar opened on New Year’s Eve three years ago with a funky mix of food, drink and classic video games and pinball machines.
“It’s a bittersweet kind of thing, but it’s really just time to move on,” Poe said.
A restaurant company is planning to open a Greek/Italian eatery in the space at the corner of Spruce and College, Poe said. Look for an announcement next week.
-Black Dome bar: Black Dome Mountain Sports, a full service outdoor outfitter on Tunnel Road, is building a bar inside its store. The pub will be called “Conspiracy.” More as I get it.
-Dog scout: A talent scout working for Purina was talking to dog owners around Asheville on Thursday, searching for people and pets to feature with a new dog food release. Purina folks will be back next month for the photo/video shoot.
-A music pick of the week: Nightlands at The Mothlight in West Asheville. Nightlands is the side project of The War on Drugs’ Dave Hartley. Sounds wild. From the press:
Nightlands, the project of sci-fi wizard and unstoppable noise machineDave Hartley, is keeping the space age dream alive! In 2013, Nightlands released the excellent album, Oak Island, on Secretly Canadian,performed an original score to 2001: A Space Odyssey live, took us “To The Moon” and back, conducted a multi-city run with a 5-piece choir, and trekked across the eastern US with his trusty backing band. Now, it’s time for the intrepid bard to head west, alone. Playing many cities for the first time this year and touring solo to boot, Hartley will sing, interact with analog drum machines.
-Asheville Brewing nod: Travel + Leisure names Asheville Pizza & Brewing one of America’s Coolest Breweries:
What sets ABC apart from the others is its in-house arcade and high-tech movie theater, which charges only $3 a ticket and is kid-friendly. While watching a choice of three features, which run for a week at different times, patrons sample Rocket Girl Lager, Ninja Porter, or Fire Escape Pepper Ale and nibble on specialty pizzas and burgers.
-Wicked Weed nod: The Raleigh News & Observer’s John Frank notes Wicked Weed’s success. We’re coming up on their one-year anniversary. And there will be more big news to come – Wicked Weed is going to start bottling some of its beer.
Walt Dickinson, 31, and his brother Luke, 28, founded the brewpub in December 2012 with childhood friend Ryan Guthy, whose parents invested in the project. The brewery spared no expense, installing a climate-controlled open fermenter, creating a special building for making sour beers and adding warehouse space for storing barrel-aged beers – all luxuries that set them apart from other small breweries in the state. The brothers grew up in Asheville and started brewing beer at home nearly a decade ago. Luke Dickinson later worked at Dogfish Head in Delaware and interned at a brewery in Germany.
Their experiences influenced their concept and flavor. “It’s like music, nobody is writing anything new, they are just emulating what they’ve heard in different ways,” Dickinson said. “I think that is all beer is. We interpret them through our own vision of what they should be.”
-Cold Mountain beer frenzy: From Paste Magazine, a review:
There’s a lot of hype around Cold Mountain because it’s just that damned good. Plus, it’s scarce. Cold Mountain takes four times longer to brew than any of Highland’s other products, which naturally limits its availability and gives it that artisan-handmade authenticity that people fall all over themselves to consume.
Starting as a meticulously brewed English-style brown ale, the gang at Highland then stirs in their own special blend of herbs and spices that often incorporates vanilla, hazelnut, cranberries, cinnamon, raspberry and God knows what else. Every year the recipe changes slightly delivering all sorts of new notes and nuances to the new season’s batch, and this year does not disappoint. The beer is creamy, lightly hopped, with just a hint of spice. It’s Christmas in a bottle.
-Asheville Affiliates holiday party: Here’s the press release:
Whether you’re on Santa’s naughty or nice list, the Asheville Affiliates present a not-to-miss holiday party that will also be a great opportunity for fun and networking with young professionals, featuring music, cocktail specials, appetizers and more. Taking place at the Marketplace Restaurant on Wall Street, the party will be held Wednesday, December 11th at 6 pm.
Attendees are encouraged to dress as either “naughty” in their best vixen-like attire, or as “nice” and can either come as they are and dress as themselves or as an angelic character. Prizes will be given for the best “naughty” and best “nice” outfits. Entertainment for the evening will include music by Molli Party and tables will be set up for Cards Against Humanity and Apples to Apples.
Cover for the event is $10 and includes appetizers and entertainment, drinks are available at the bar. Proceeds will benefit the Asheville Affiliates and will go towards funding the charity fundraiser parties the Asheville Affiliates will host in 2014. For more information, or to RSVP to the event, visit http://www.facebook.com/Asheville-Affiliates.
6 Comments
Hey Jason, Conspiracy is open at Black Dome now. Check it out!
Mark, thanks – I will!
I wonder how we could get in touch with that Purina scout? We’ve been teaching our dog to talk and she’s getting pretty good at it. Still needs a little work on articulation..
Jeff, I just sent you Purina scout’s contact information. If anyone else wants it, let me know here in the comments (with your email) or send me an email at sweetashvegas@hotmail.com.
They are at Happy Tails Country Club this morning. I just dropped off our dog and was briefly interviewed on camera.
That Nightlands show is going to be so dreamy!