ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
Directly after visiting French Broad Brewery, August ’08, had lunch at JACK OF THE WOOD PUBLIC HOUSE, a Celtic-styled downtown hotspot serving Green Man Ales (crafted a few streets away and kegged for local distribution). Many fine local, national and international beers are also available alongside locally sourced food items on the fine pub menu.
Alongside galleries, bars, and small shops, the red-bricked mid-size space had front patio, tawny alcove at dark blue entrance, central wood bar, old cement floors, small stage, sided dining, sun god motifs, agrarian artwork, and upstairs space. Menu offered English-styled dishes such as shepherd’s pie and hempnut burger beside burgers, grouper, and salads.
Lemony honey-roasted cereal-grained hop-spiced cornbread-finishing English Bitter-styled Green Man Gold and dry-hopped peat-malted orange-quilted tea-honeyed rye-backed ESB went well with salmon salad. Green Man’s robust Porter countered coffee-stained stewed prune and sun-dried raisin souring with toffee-sweetened burgundy luster. Best bet: high gravity 9.2% alcohol Belgian Gold, a candi-sugared ale with bittersweet banana and red cherry illusions fortifying butterscotch malts.
