Asheville wins Beer City USA poll: an open letter to Portland

Portland haters, don't take it so hard that we we won the Examiner Poll. Asheville loves beer. We're not unworthy.

Asheville takes its craft beer VERY seriously. Readers, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Asheville has about seven breweries in our city limits, and two more in neighboring cities.

Even excluding the breweries outside of town, we have about one dedicated, quality, local craft brewery for every 10,000 residents. Portland would have to have 58 breweries to match our per capita numbers. I believe y'all have 28 breweries, is that right?

And our beer is GOOD. Asheville loves and SUPPORTS small, independent, quality makers of food and drink, and it shows in the quality of the beer we make, drink and celebrate at beer festivals.

Highland Brewing's Cold Mountain Winter Ale, an ever-changing winter offering, sells out faster than our local shops can keep it in stock.

The #1 search term on this blog is "LAB Asheville," where "LAB" is the Lexington Avenue Brewery, the hot new brewery-centered downtown eatery so popular it could barely keep up with demand for its (tasty, local) beer in its opening weeks.

Asheville is home to Bruisin' Ales, a beer-only retail shop rated the #3 Best Beer Retailer Worldwide by RateBeer Best 2010. Bruisin' Ales -- a frequent contributor to this blog -- has been featured in All About Beer, BeerAdvocate magazine, Ale Street News, Southern Brew News. It was recently named One of the Top Ten Bottle Shops in the US by Imbibe Magazine.

When the president of our country vacationed here recently after falling a little in love with Asheville while prepping here for a McCain debate, we made a special brew for him and for the occasion, President's Spring Break Ale from Asheville Brewing.


Do we sound like beer amateurs? We're not.

We're a city that loves and supports its microbreweries and craft beer industry, where high-quality craft ales are made, drunk and appreciated by a beer-loving city. (We're also a city with a remarkably powerful Twitter presence. You may have noticed. We love our Twitter, too.)

It's human to get all territorial and fight over dumb shit like beer polls. But it's also human to get over yourself when you truly encounter your opponent.

Portland haters, encounter us. We are worthy. You got beaten (to whatever extent anyone gets "beaten" by an internet poll) by a city full of high-quality local craft brews and ardent, vocal beer lovers.

Sound like any city you know?