LaZoom’s Fender Bender, a beer tour of Asheville is the best way to explore Asheville’s local music and beer scene. Each brewery excellently describes Asheville’s ever evolving brewery culture that even the locals still ride.

LaZoom Asheville Tours - Five women sit on wooden benches, wearing sunglasses and casual clothing, holding drinks and chatting together on what appears to be a bus or open vehicle during a beer tour. Trees are visible in the background.

Where We Went

Highland – Founded in 1994 by Oscar Wong, Highland Brewing Company is Asheville’s pioneer craft brewery and the first and the largest family-owned brewery native to the Southeast. Starting in the basement of Barley’s Taproom, it sparked the city’s craft beer scene. In 2006, it moved to a large East Asheville facility, becoming a staple for quality, sustainability, and community.

New Belgium – New Belgium Brewing opened its $175 million East Coast brewery in Asheville in 2016, transforming an 18-acre former brownfield site in West Asheville into a sustainable production facility and popular tourist destination along the French Broad River. The site was formerly home to a junkyard and livestock auction house. It has since been rehabilitated with extensive green features, including reclaimed materials and a restored creek.

The Wedge – Established in 2008 in Asheville’s River Arts District, Wedge Brewing Co. was founded by Tim Schaller and artist John Payne, opening in the basement of the historic Wedge Studios building. Known for its community-focused vibe, industrial setting, and quality craft beer (especially IPAs). The Wedge is beloved locally as a neighborhood hub in the RAD, often featuring local artists, food trucks, and a festive, beer-garden atmosphere.

LaZoom Asheville Tours - A purple school bus, serving as a unique beer tour vehicle, is parked next to a building adorned with colorful graffiti murals on its walls, surrounded by trees and a clear sky.

What We Drank

Highland: Daycation IPA and Highland Pilsner

New Belgium: Fat Tire Ale and Fruit Smash Hard Seltzer

The Wedge: Iron Rail IPA and Creature

What We Heard

LaZoom Asheville Tours - Four musicians perform inside a decorated bus during a lively beer tour; one plays drums, one plays guitar, one plays keyboard, and one plays trombone.

This weekend’s Fender Bender featured local band, FWUIT!; An upbeat and party-forward pop-rock band featuring a bada$$ lead vocalist who covered every hit I could imagine. When was the last time you sang Pink Pony Club at the top of your lungs with your husband and his middle-aged parents from Milwaukee while cruising downtown Asheville like your life depended on it? That’s what I thought!

What We Saw

LaZoom Asheville Tours - A woman and a man hug and smile outside a building with glass doors, viewed through the window of a bus or trolley, perhaps celebrating after enjoying a lively beer tour together.

Other than the inside of each brewery’s bathroom, the tour took us across Asheville’s landscape, from the hillsides of Highland in the east to West Asheville, back through the River Arts District with a finale of rock and roll through Downtown. What I want to know is… what did people off the bus see, and will it get back to my boss?!

Jealous? You should be. Book your Fender Bender experience this summer in Asheville with LaZoom!