captain_phil | Dec. 17th, 2008

After hitting a Krispy Kreme donuts with the red light on, we headed to the rendezvous point to meet up with the Brews Cruise. The Brews Cruise was a blast, it started off at Highland Brewing where Sam the very knowledgeable brewery cellerman took us from the gristmill all the way to the end of the bottling/kegging line, with Brews Cruise owner/operator Mark bringing us samples as the tour progressed. More beers were sampled at French Broad Brewing, including a comparison of cask served ESB and American style draft. I was the oddball of the group and preferred the "real ale" style. The last stop was Asheville Pizza and Brewing, a really fun place with great food. We sat around BSing with Mark and the other couple for an hour or so before trading email addresses and heading off to the Jam, even though barhopping with Patrick and Allie (from the brews cruise), was tempting.

We lasted until about 11:30 Saturday night, shortly after Coheed and Cambria's set

A couple of names have to be mentioned. Ruthie Foster wow! what a voice! The opening of night two when she sang "Grinnin" acapella with Warren was awesome. The other name is Tal Wilkenfeld. Yes, that's really her in the picture and she can play the hell out of a bass.

The next morning we were on the road a lot earlier than last year, stopping off for lunch at a diner at Gate City, VA. Or at least the menu said Gate City, VA.

There are a few more pics to be posted, I might do that tonight unless I venture out after work.