French Broad River Brewery — Restaurant in Asheville

I’ve been coming here for 4 years and it’s usually a great spot. Never had a compliant, but unfortunately there was a different blonde girl bartender working who was VERY rude..... I ordered two beers for my wife and I and after paying, I accidentally said "no" to the tipping option, confused thinking I was going to keep the tab open.

She instead stopped me as I walked away and asked me for my ID’s (which was fine at first), but then she said "did you mean to do only $12" with a dirty look and scoffed at me. I felt bad and I actually told her “no I didn’t mean to close out, and will plan to tip her double the next round” for my mindless mistake. Until I noticed her staring at me and my wife and what looked as if she was taking pictures of us (I have no clue why, but she was trying to hide it… poorly)....This went on for about 30 min and felt incredibly awkward/shamed. When we started cleaning up the table to leave, trying to avoid her stares she said “Have a wonderful day Dylan goodbye”. Not sure if she is new. but we were legit the only customers there, which now makes sense with the horrible customer service.

Way better to go to Hillman Beer or Forestry Camp across the street. They always have pleasant staff and will be getting all of our tips...

I'd love to love this place and give it 5 stars. I've been there 4 times. They have live reggae every Sunday, and other live music regularly. I've seen Stephen Marley on their outside stage (in their normal parking lot). There's a pretty good pizza shop on premises. There's so much to like... and then there's the beer. Every beer they make is waay overhopped. There is no regular-beer-flavored-beer with a nice balance of hops, malt, and alcohol; every style I have tried is well beyond the accepted range of bitterness and so out-of-balance that I' just can't drink any of them anymore. I have been a homebrewer and draft beer lover for over 3 decades, but I actually ordered a lime cherry seltzer last time I was there. Their beer is that bad. Even my wife, who is a bit of a hop-head, didn't like any of it. It's all too much high-alpha hops boiled for way too long in everything; it is completely inappropriate and unacceptable for many beer styles. Everything does not have to taste like an IPA. I'm writing this to help remind me not to go back. It's not enjoyable.

Also their men's room reeks of old strong urine (like stinkier than all but the worst...

One of my favorite breweries in Asheville, and that's saying something, because the competition is fierce. French Broad has some excellent beers. The wee heavy and kolsch are probably the two big favorites but I really haven't had any that aren't above average. The staff is really nice, very helpful. The atmosphere is laid back and unpretentious, which is welcome after visiting some of the trendy places in the central beer district. The pizza is also really good, too, surprisingly. I'm from Cincinnati, which has a pretty robust brewery scene, and French Broad is the only brewery that I make absolutely sure I hit every time I go to Asheville. On merit alone, it's up there with the best breweries I've ever been to, and they aren't pricing the product in the same way that many other places do, which means on value, there's really nothing that comes close to...