FRI.
A number of great and walkable-to-everything downtown hotels have opened recently, including the industrial-chic Foundry and the Cambria, but I crave green this trip, so I check in at the Inn on Biltmore Estate, which perches in the rolling hills around Biltmore, the Vanderbilt family’s Gilded Age crown jewel of a manor. The inn sits along a rambling path toward the mansion, on-site winery, farmyard, and woodland trails. I drop my bags and admire the panoramic Blue Ridge views from my room, and then take a quick drive to happy hour downtown, in South Slope. Even though the neighborhood has become known as an epicenter of breweries, I slip into Chemist Spirits distillery and its adjoining bar,sudsy haunt. Locally beloved Burial Beer Co.’s new lodge-like restaurant, Forestry Camp Taproom + Kitchen, fits the bill—beneath timber rafters, the juicy trout sandwich with fish from nearby Sunburst farms tastes like a mountain welcome.
