A decade of food, beer and community
Creativity fuels expansion for three Black Mountain businesses
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
December 9, 2020
John Richardson opened what is now the Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House in February of 2011. Nearly a decade later, the business has introduced a new concept and menu and spawned a brewery and Smoke BLK MTN. Photo by Fred McCormick
In February of 2011 the eyes of the world were fixed on Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas where the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25, in Super Bowl XLV. In downtown Black Mountain, cheers echoed from a basement on Cherry Street where a new pub was opening its doors for the first time with a potluck watch party. Bottled beers were $1 and draft beers were $2; everything was sold out by the end of the night.
In the decade that followed, the menu, beer list and concept at Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House evolved, as growth spawned Black Mountain Brewing in 2018 and the upcoming launch of adjacent Smoke BLK MTN. The community-centered spirit with which it was founded, however, has remained at its core.
Owner John Richardson was the weekend bartender at the Watershed when the popular downtown bar and music venue closed its doors in January of 2011.
“It was the place where I hung out with all my friends, and a lot of people were sad that it was going away,” Richardson said of the Watershed. “I knew how important it was for the community to have a place to come together. I found out this building was available on Dec. 21, 2010, and I thought this would be a nice thing for Black Mountain.”
What Richardson envisioned was an urban design concept known as the “third place.” Introduced by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in 1989, the term describes social settings where people spend time outside of home (first place) and work (second place). Oldenburg considered third places to be anchors of a healthy community.
“I wanted our community to have a nice, comfortable environment where everyone could come together, and I knew the community was desperate for a gathering spot,” Richardson said. “It was our goal from the beginning to be responsive and adaptive to the community’s needs.”
Who doesn’t love fried chicken?
When Richardson opened the Ale House, he could do two things: “pour beer and wine.” Local liquor laws at the time prevented bars from selling mixed drinks and the startup pub had a cook but no chef. The initial menu included hot dogs and chicken strips, and a signature “Bird Dog.”
“It was two chicken strips on a hotdog bun with honey mustard and cheese,” Richardson said, chuckling. “They were great.”
But a town referendum in November of 2011 allowing local restaurants to serve liquor by the drink proved to be a “game-changer” for the Ale House.
“We had to have 30% food sales to serve liquor, and I couldn’t sell enough hot dogs, chicken strips or Bird Dogs with people ordering $12 martinis,” Richardson said. “People consumed a lot of liquor those first few years after that referendum passed because the town never had that before.”
As a result, the Ale House adapted to support the local nightlife that grew with that trend. Karaoke and DJ parties would often last until 2 a.m. To keep up with the demand, Richardson hired his first chef, Matt Helms, who is now the co-owner and head butcher of The Chop Shop in Asheville.
“We were already growing, but once we got serious about food the growth was tremendous,” Richardson said. “We started out as a bar that served food, but over time we became a restaurant with a nice bar.”
Brian Hough, general manager of the Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House, feeds the fire in the smoker as the business prepares for the launch of Smoke BLK MTN behind Black Mountain Brewing. Photo by Fred McCormick
By 2017, it was clear to the business owner that the kitchen would play a central role in the establishment’s identity, and he knew exactly who he wanted to guide the Ale House into the future.
Brian Hough’s culinary creations are too numerous to list, but his passion for his craft has landed him executive chef positions at the Biltmore Estate and Sierra Nevada in his 20-year career in the kitchen.
“I started recruiting Brian years ago,” Richardson said. “In a lot of ways, he was really Asheville’s first celebrity chef. He won’t say that because he’s the most humble guy you’ll ever meet, but he has done amazing things everywhere he’s been.”
Hough was a sous chef at The Herbfarm in 2000, when Jerry Traunfeld received a James Beard Award for “Best American Chef: Northwest and Hawaii.” The restaurant is widely regarded as one of the first American eateries to serve regional recipes using locally sourced ingredients. When he left Sierra Nevada in 2015, he spent time as an executive chef for the Linekin Bay Resort in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where he used the saltwater to make his own salt. Hough then traveled around the Rocky Mountains in a camper to “learn to cook over an open fire, for real.”
“I’d had an abundance of tools throughout my career as a chef, and I hadn’t really been tried or tested,” Hough said. “The anthropology of cooking has always been the most interesting part for me. It can be really easy to conceptualize over a six-burner induction range and endless tools, but I wanted to understand the simplest form of what I do.”
While the experience proved valuable, the relative isolation reinvigorated his desire to share his culinary creations with diners, and Richardson was eager to finally hire Hough as his general manager in the summer of 2019. One of their earliest discussions centered around creating an identity based on “delicious and affordable” food.
“He wanted to be a place where people could connect,” Hough said of Richardson. “He knew the beer was already a big draw, but he wanted the food to do that, too.”
The general manager wasted no time filling the head chef position, tapping longtime friend and partner in the kitchen, Greg Buchanan.
“We did a lot of things together at the Biltmore that are still in place,” Buchanan said of working with Hough. “We started the butchery and charcuterie program there, and they have their own butcher shop on-premise right now.”
The duo’s careful and creative approach to Southern cuisine weighed heavily on the discussions with Richardson regarding the new direction for the Ale House. The first step was letting the people who walk by know what they would find downstairs.
Greg Buchanan, the head chef for the Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House, reunited with his longtime friend and partner in the kitchen, Brian Hough, when the pair stepped into their roles in 2019. The downtown restaurant introduced a new name and menu, which centers around fried chicken, in November. Photo by Fred McCormick
“The sign outside just said ‘Ale House,’” Hough said. “I thought the sign should communicate that we have food, and that we care about it.”
Richardson began developing a concept that would promote food and beer, while Hough and Buchanan developed a new menu.
“I had already ordered new food for us to start prepping for the new menu, then COVID hit,” Buchanan said.
The Ale House began giving free meals to people impacted by the economic fallout of the crisis and Richardson was forced to let go of the vast majority of his staff. With their plans to introduce a new menu derailed, Hough and Buchanan needed something they could execute quickly.
In a pivot away from small plates of regional fare that would encourage diners to taste portions over drinks for an extended period of time, Ale House leaned into Southern comfort food that was convenient for carry-out customers and quick for those who dine in.
“I wish I could wax philosophical or romantically about it, but there wasn’t any fried chicken here in town,” Hough said. “I knew we could do fried chicken really well, because I’ve cooked a ton of it. And, who doesn’t love fried chicken? It makes people happy.”
Richardson welcomed the idea.
“I mean, when you talk about Southern staples and something that makes people nostalgic, you really can’t top fried chicken,” he said. “And, I knew with Brian and Greg we could become not just a destination for people here in Black Mountain, but for people throughout WNC.”
Richardson introduced the Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House in November. The menu centers around a recipe that includes brining the chicken in pickle juice and buttermilk for a day-and-a-half and a special Calcutta hot seasoning that is an Indian variation of Nashville Hot.
“We’ve been known for having good burgers, but there are a lot of great burgers in town,” Richardson said. “We still have really good burgers, but our fried chicken will help us stand out in this area.”
Brewing up something special across Broadway
While food is the future for the Black Mountain Kitchen + Ale House, beer remains in its soul. Local brews have been a permanent fixture on the taps since the beginning and the bar’s first employee, John Garcia, opened Lookout Brewing in 2013. Five years later, Richardson and two partners opened Black Mountain Brewing on Broadway Avenue.
“We were selling so much beer at the Ale House, and local beers are popular with our regular customers and visitors from out of town,” Richardson said. “We wanted to open a brewery nearby that would make great beer and have the same community feel.”
Lucy Adkins, who has worked for Richardson as a server and bartender for nearly nine years, was hired to manage the tap room. Jeff “Puff” Irvin was the first head brewer, but left the partnership in 2019. As he did with Hough, Richardson sought a visionary in the craft to succeed Irvin.
Lucy Adkins began working at the Black Mountain Ale House nearly nine years ago, and became tap room manager of Black Mountain Brewing in 2018. Photo by Fred McCormick
Gary Sernack is a former professional chef who took up home-brewing as a hobby while living in San Francisco. A few years later, he opened Bhramari Brewing Co. in Asheville, which brews well-known beers like The Good Fight Sour Pale Ale, Neon Ghost IPA and Lorelai IPA. The Lexington Avenue brewery, which features culinary offerings from executive chef and co-owner Joshua DIllard, is also recognized for creatively inspired beers like the Origami Dream, an Imperial Berliner Weisee with dragon fruit, tangerine, lemon, marshmallow and vanilla.
Richardson approached Sernack about joining the Black Mountain Brewing partnership in February of 2019.
“Then, we all know what happened in March,” Sernack said. “With COVID hitting, the first three batches of beer I brewed were all dead after our chiller died. We got beer back in the tanks in August and now we’re in full swing.”
The success of Bhramari forced Sernack to fully embrace the administrative role of the industry, but Black Mountain Brewing will provide a new creative outlet.
“I look forward to coming out here and brewing, it keeps my edge sharp,” he said. “That’s why you get into brewing, for the process of it, not spreadsheets, ordering and taxes. So this lets me stand up there, stir the mash, transfer and clean the tanks. It puts me in touch with my roots.”
Sernack plans to keep it simple, but creative, at Black Mountain Brewing.
“People expect this whimsical direction from Bhramari that’s culinarily inspired, and I really enjoy doing that,” he said. “But, here I want to brew the beer I want to drink.”
A pre-prohibition lager, known as Logic & Proportion, and the Blackest of Mountains dry stout have been popular additions to the taps, according to Adkins. While more adventurous beers like the Luminous Tides mango milkshake IPA and the first of a series of pastry-inspired sours have been a hit. Momentary Bliss, a lemon blueberry pound cake sour at 7.4% ABV, has elicited a lot of response.
Black Mountain Brewing head brewer and co-owner of Bhramari Brewing, prepares to sample his latest batch of beer. Photo by Fred McCormick
“We’ve had a lot of people say they have never had a sour they like who immediately fall in love with this beer,” Adkins said. “We have a lot of customers who try it and then leave with a crowler or two.”
With adequate outdoor space, the brewery has been busier than it's ever been in recent months, Adkins said, while regular customers are excited to see what Sernack brews next and visitors are anxious to get a taste of the local beer.
“Then there’s our absolutely beautiful Roberta Flack mural,” she said of the painting of the Black Mountain native that was funded by a GoFundMe campaign this summer. “People stop to take pictures of it and come inside to ask about it. It’s been a great thing for us, but also for the whole community.”
T-Shirts featuring an image of the mural have been popular with customers, who often enjoy live musical performances on the back deck. The brewery has developed the same community atmosphere that Adkins witnessed at the Ale House.
“We have a nice mix of local regulars, seasonal visitors and tourists,” she said. “Everyone comes here, orders a beer, and just kind of enjoys the environment. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of.”
Smoked meat and beer
Of the many things Richardson has learned over the past decade is that good beer should be enjoyed with good food. As people are drinking more of the “great beer” brewed by Sernack, they needed access to “great food.”
That’s the simple idea behind Smoke BLK MTN, which will debut behind Black Mountain Brewing in the coming weeks. The custom trailer, equipped with a smoker and kitchen, will provide a new creative outlet for Hough and Buchanan.
“I think having food at the brewery is the next logical step for us,” Richardson said. “I’m investing in my business with another opportunity for my chefs to be creative and have fun. I want my people to love what they do, and this will let Brian and Greg do something new and exciting.”
Smoke will specialize in slow cooking various meats and feature sandwiches like smoked lobster rolls, brisket, duck pastrami and pulled pork poutine with curly fries. Richardson plans to increase his outdoor seating capacity at the brewery by building a deck above the existing outside space in 2021.
“This has been a crazy year, but we’ve been blessed to have so much support from this community,” Richardson said. “When we first got started I knew I wanted to create something special for Black Mountain, and it’s exciting to see that’s still happening.”
The Valley Echo will publish a series of features throughout the holiday season that will highlight Swannanoa Valley businesses to encourage the community to shop local.