The Thirsty Monk

8/26/2008 1:20:48 AM, tuesday, august 26, 2008
Contemporary vibe. Very nice selection of beers. Surprising West Coast selections available. bright white walls kinda scared me off. the large open windows and siddwalk seating was attractive. Prices were not. I’ll stick to the pub across the way.

7/25/2008 11:57:50 PM, friday, july 25, 2008
Was in town for a show and to taste Asheville’s beers. Downstairs is primarily Belgian beers, upstairs was just recently opened with American beers. Belgian selection, both domestic and foreign, was amazing. Great selection of taps and bottles. Staff was knowledgeable and willing to give samples. Prices reasonable based on the the half- or full-pour model. Upstairs selection of micros was compelling, though there was a discrepancy between the menu and what was available on tap. Nice cheese plate selection. Overall, a very memorable experience.

5/31/2008 7:58:34 PM, saturday, may 31, 2008
Great place for Belgian beers, both by the bottle and on tap. Went here first thing after our drive up from SC and had a few flights each. Great draught selection, including some stuff that I’d never heard of - nice bottle selection, too. Limited food, but well prepared. Friendly service and knowledgeable. Saw the one waitress looking at a beer site on the cash register computer to answer a question for someone. Great place to hang - I imagine it gets pretty busy at night. We were there around 4pm on a Saturday, and there were only maybe 10 people in the place.

4/9/2008 3:55:46 PM, wednesday, april 09, 2008
my wife and i came up for 3 day weekend and had to check this place out. the place has a cave feel to it and a the decor is great, however when we sat at the bar for sandwich’s and good abby beers things took a turn for the worse. the bartenders really didn’t know much about what they we serving, they are more than willing to give you a taste:-). don’t even ask to have a bottle recoomendedb cause neither bartender had tasted most of the bottles they offered. we tried to order the crepe’s but were steered(only after the bartender had told us that they were only reheated) towards the french bread sandwichs. sandwich’s were ok for bar food but what pushed us over the line was when the bartender stop making our sandwich and cheese plate and started pouring beer. she then resumed making our sandwich’s without washing her hands or gloves. the wife almost lost it.lol. All in all it’s hard to stomach paying $6.5-$35(over double then what they charge in the stores) for great beer and bad food and unknowledgable nosense from the bartenders. frankly i was stunned.

3/28/2008 11:06:38 PM, friday, march 28, 2008
We visited Asheville for a three day relaxer, went on a wednesday night, luckily it was not crowded at all, maybe a dozen people there, so we got immediate attention by the wait staff at the bar. Great ambiance, thank God there was no smoking because I really like to smell my beer. The selection was great- Chimay, DuPont, many others on tap. Bottle selection was superb- they had Cantillon Grand Cru, Iris and Classic Gueuze in 750ml. Oud Beersel Gueuze, some other standard lambics, most everything available in this state. Prices were acceptible, but if I lived in Asheville, I couldn’t visit nearly as often as I would like- my paycheck would disappear. Really wish every city had a place like this. Visit them if you can.

3/5/2008 11:10:08 AM, wednesday, march 05, 2008
Clearly The Thirsty Monk has the widest Belgian beer selection in Asheville, so if I have that craving I will likely end up here. The dark, cave-like ambiance is a huge plus as well. The tap selection is fair with a reasonable selection of styles and just pricing. I found the prices for larger bottles to be rather high, reflecting about double the cost at a nearby bottle shop. I don’t mind shelling out $10 or even maybe $12 for a 750ml of Allagash Trippel, but higher than that seems a bit much. That seems to be a common problem among a few bars downtown. Anyway, by sticking to the taps and some of the smaller bottles I was able to enjoy a wide variety of Belgian brews served in brand appropriate glassware while relaxing in the dark and keeping a fair bar tab.

2/23/2008 10:14:31 AM, saturday, february 23, 2008
Nice intimate feel, but the basement location with concrete walls results in a fair amount of noise. Service gets major knocks. Small place, but no table service. You have to fight through the people seated/standing at the bar to order drinks and food. And the second time I was there, the bartender had to search out the proper glass for the draught ordered. Also several kegs were empty. Excellent selection of bottles, but most everything on tap is lighter in color. They could stand to diversify the styles on tap a bit. Also have to knock the food for being a bit pricey with only three or four choices. I didn’t expect typical bar food, but some food to go with high abv beer is usually a good idea. It’s early, and I will revisit my review after a few months. Hopefully some of the kinks can be corrected. Still, all in all an enjoyable place to visit. Just make sure to eat before you go.

2/9/2008 8:51:19 PM, saturday, february 09, 2008
A local bar that specializes in Belgian beers...this is too good to be true! This adds another layer of sophistication to this already beer-erudite town. Has a cozy grotto feel (although the walls could be darker), impressive selection of bottles and glassware. Beer by the glass is an unexpected nice touch. Would like to see more abbey style ales on tap. Look forward to many more sessions with the Monk!

2/4/2008 5:01:01 PM, monday, february 04, 2008
Very interesting place, I went when I only had about 20 minutes to spare, and I wish I had went earlier. Will definitely go back next time I’m in Asheville. About 10 belgians on tap, with who knows how many in bottles. Prices were reasonable considering what you were buying. I doubt they would have a $2 night, $5 for world class beer, served properly is a premium that is well worth it.

1/29/2008 7:08:32 AM, tuesday, january 29, 2008 [ Updated tuesday, january 29, 2008 ]
Went this past weekend and was really looking forward to it. I have to say I was slightly disapointed. It is a great place I was just hoping for a bit more. The cave ambiance was nice. The tap selection was good although they were out of three of them (I will cut tehm some slack as it was there third night) the bottle selections was what I would expect for NC. The cheese plate was nice but $9 four a few pieces of cheese seemed a bit much. I really liked how they had big bottles by the glass. Other than the cheese plate and the taps being out my only downer is that the staff seemed to be to busy talking to people to serve me. It was not that busy. I will definately go back when I am craving a good Belgian beer and I hope the food will be good when they start that. I hope the place does well.