From wine to beer to cider, Hendersonville’s Cheers! Trail is your ticket to locally made bliss. Here’s how to get in on the fun and earn rewards along the way.
There’s no shortage of fun things to do in North Carolina, so planning your next few weeks or even months can be overwhelming. You can retreat into the mountains for a peaceful weekend of solitude, or you can take to the beach for a round of frolicking in the sand and swimming. Don’t even get us started on campsite s’mores. We yearn for our next trip out into the wilderness.
But you don’t have to travel far to experience something uniquely North Carolinian. If you want a beautiful social experience that’s a little outside of the norm—a spirited departure from, say, North Carolina’s fun summer farmers markets—you need to check out the Cheers! Trail in Hendersonville. This trail takes you through some of the area’s hottest bars and breweries, allowing you to taste-test your way through five different categories of alcohol, from beer to wine and beyond.
Here’s everything you need to know about the trail, including the drinks you’ll sip, the establishments you’ll encounter, and the rewards you can earn if you’re committed enough.
What is Hendersonville’s Cheers! Trail, and what types of drinks are offered?
The aptly named Cheers! Trail is a Hendersonville treasure, and it extends a little outside of Hendersonville proper, giving locals and tourists alike the chance to explore areas and establishments they may have never seen. Other locales include Fletcher, Mills River, Etowah, and Flat Rock.
The Cheers! Trail is similar to a bar crawl but on a much larger scale. Each of the 25 establishments offers locally made drinks that fit into one of five categories: beer, cider, mead, spirits, and wine. What else could you ask for?
The goal is simple: Visit as many of the stops along the trail as you can. And it doesn’t have to be daunting, either. With no strict time limit, you can take your time with your sipping tour of these charming mountain towns. That said, you’ll want to ensure you have the Cheers! Trail Passport loaded on your phone and ready to be checked in at every stop.
The Cheers! Trail has been around for a while, and the passport was once a physical document that tracked your progress. Now, however, it’s a website that you can save to your phone’s home screen for easy access. It’s not an app, which should incite a sigh of relief for many. When you arrive at each establishment, you’ll check in with them on the passport site so that your visit is logged.
Now, you may be wondering why you should go through the hassle of filling out the Cheers! Trail Passport at all. But trust us: It’s worth it, especially if you’re someone who likes souvenirs that memorialize their adventures.
The perks of the Cheers! Trail Passport add up quickly
If you’re fixin’ to take on Hendersonville’s Cheers! Trail, you need to have its passport under your belt—er, on your phone, rather. Signing up is both free and quick, and you can do so here.
Using the passport is just as easy as signing up for it. You earn points each time you visit one of the 25 participating locations, and you can turn those in for a variety of prizes, including themed wine stoppers, wine goblets, coasters, bottle openers, knit beanies, pint glasses, and T-shirts.
Redeeming the points is also a breeze. Rather than needing to find which of the 25 establishments has the prize you want, you simply have to head to the Hendersonville Welcome Center (located at 201 S Main St, Hendersonville, NC 28792). Here, all points are processed and prizes handed out.
Which breweries, wineries, and more participate in the Cheers! Trail?
The following 25 breweries, wineries, cideries, distilleries, and meaderies make up the beloved Cheers! Trail.
Breweries
- Appalachian Mountain Brewery (46 North Mills River Road, Mills River, NC 28759)
- Boodas Brewing Company (120 E Barnwell Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Burning Blush Brewery (891 Boylston Hwy, Mills River, NC 28759)
- Dry Falls Brewing Company (425 Kanuga Road, Hendersonville, NC 28739)
- Guidon Brewing Company (415 8th Avenue East, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Mills River Brewing Co (336 Banner Farm Road, Mills River, NC 28759)
- Oklawaha Brewing Company (147 First Avenue East, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Sideways Farm & Brewery (62 Eade Road, Etowah, NC 28729)
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, NC 28732)
- Southern Appalachian Brewery (822 Locust Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Trailside Brewing Co. (873 Lennox Park Drive, Hendersonville, NC 28739)
Wineries
- Burntshirt Vineyards (2695 Sugarloaf Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Johnson’s Legacy Vineyard (33 Fred Orr Drive, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Marked Tree Vineyard (623 Deep Gap Road, Flat Rock, NC 28731)
- Point Lookout Vineyards (408 Appleola Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards (588 Chestnut Gap Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Sawyer Springs Vineyard (124 Sandy Hill Lane, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Souther Williams Vineyard (655 Hoopers Creek Road, Fletcher, NC 28732)
- Stone Ashe Vineyards (736 Green Mountain Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
Cideries
- Appalachian Ridge Artisan Hard Cider (731 Chestnut Gap Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Bold Rock Hard Cider (72 School House Road, Mills River, NC 28759)
- Cider Barn at Jeter Mountain Farm (1126 Jeter Mountain Road, Hendersonville, NC 28739)
Distilleries
- M & T Distilling (711 Maple Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
- Two Trees Distilling Co. (17 Continuum Drive, Fletcher, NC 28732)
Meaderies
- World’s Edge Meadery (408 Appleola Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792)
Beer vs. cider vs. mead: What’s the difference?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed at all of the options available to folks who embark on the Cheers! Trail. After all, in addition to 25 establishments, the trail offers five distinct categories of drinks. Because of this, we want to ensure everyone knows exactly what each category is so they can make the best decisions for themselves.
Wine and spirits stand apart as their own alcohol groups, but beers, ciders, and meads can be a little murkier to folks who aren’t well-versed in the drink-making process. Beer is made when grains like oats, barley, and wheat get fermented with hops, a green cone-shaped flower native to the Americas. The grains and hops grant beer its deep, slightly nutty, and funky taste.
On the other hand, cider is made similarly but with fruit, particularly apples, used in lieu of grains and hops. This makes cider a wonderful beverage choice for gluten-free folks, and this may even be contributing to cider’s huge growth spurt in recent years, with more and more cider brands hitting store shelves.
Last but certainly not least, there’s mead. This drink sounds like an old-timey drink from Shakespeare’s days, and if you thought that, you’d be correct. Mead has been consumed for many, many centuries, and it draws its flavor from fermented honey. Fruits can be added during the fermentation process for extra flavor, but at its core, it’s simply a honey-based beverage; some folks even call it honey wine!
A few unique offerings found along the Cheers! Trail
Now that you know what each type of drink is, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the most unique drinks offered by participating establishments along the Cheers! Trail. First, M & T Distilling is your go-to for all things moonshine. This distillery offers classic fruit flavors, like peach, in addition to more exciting options like peanut butter. Hear us out: Purchase peanut butter moonshine and sip it after making s’mores over the fire. A match made in heaven.
On the beer front, Southern Appalachian Brewery pours a couple of intriguing brews. One is its India Pale Ale, whose intense yet charming flavor comes from the use of three different types of hops. This brewery also offers seasonal bevvies. We’re particularly keen on the Summer Wheat brew, which is zippy and citrusy. Meanwhile, Burning Blush Brewery has a Mexican lager called Sonrojo that’s sure to make you smile.
Many people think all wines fall into the same categories: your basic reds, whites, and bubblies. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. Crafting wines comes with serious creativity, precision, and patience, all things that the makers at Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards know well. In particular, the Vin Chocolate Du Barista is a special wine that has sweet notes that would pair perfectly with desserts like chocolate lava cakes, pot de crème, or even simple cookies.
The Cheers! Trail offers more than just scintillating sips
The Cheers! Trail simultaneously prompts local small businesses and brings people together, but scrumptious drinks and witty banter aren’t the only things the trail has to offer. You may just find genuine camaraderie and new friends while bouncing from brewery to winery (and back again).
If you’re a foodie, you’ll also be happy to know that many of the establishments on the trail have food menus alongside their drink menus or partner with food trucks to have hot, satiating snacks and meals available to patrons. Mills River Brewing Co, for one, has a full menu that ranges from burgers and fish sandwiches to tiramisu and shrimp tacos. Meanwhile, Dry Falls Brewing Co. partners with several local food trucks and even has a calendar on its website to show which days each food truck will be stopping by the brewery.
There’s also the scenery. Like all of Henderson County, Hendersonville has some of the most beautiful mountain views in the country.
