ASHEVILLE – An Asheville brewery hosts a flood relief benefit concert; a Southern-style food truck ends operations; and food, wine, beer and music festivals to add to the calendar.
RAD Brewing benefit concert
The River Arts District Brewing Company’s recovery efforts are ongoing following torrential rains that flooded the business at 13 Mystery St. on July 19.
Founder Robert “Lem” Lemery said the RAD Brewing Co. team resumed taproom operations using borrowed equipment, and guest experience is back to normal. Yet, the business needs assistance to rebound.
“While it all seems alright on the surface, there’s a lot unseen that’s yet to be done and the dollar total of the damage is still ticking up,” Lemery said. “A young business like us, it’s detrimental. … It’s had a pretty drastic effect on us.”
Flood damage includes storage equipment on the level beneath the taproom that will cost thousands of dollars to repair and replace.
On Aug. 29, RAD Brewing will host a benefit concert from 6-9:30 p.m. in the beer garden.
The all-ages event will include live music sets from Em and the Innocent Mischief, Doss Church & the Unholy Noise with special guest Jenny Bradley, and The Dirty French Broads.
Delish food truck will be on-site selling Venezuelan dishes.
Ahead of the benefit concert, RAD Brewing’s regular Tuesday open mic night will become a multi-artist fundraiser jam session hosted by Jenny Bradley from 7-9:30 p.m. Aug. 27.
A dozen performers are slated for the Tuesday event including Melissa McKinney, Chilltonic, Whitney Mongé and Moon Water.
The suggested donation is $5-$20.
Lemery said the brewery is about 75% to a full recovery. RAD Brewing’s GoFundMe campaign had reached more than $10,000 of the $50,000 goal as of Aug. 26. He said he aims to raise an additional $20,000 this week.
Rad Brewing has flagship and seasonal beers on draft.
“Brewing was always safe and able to be conducted even immediately after the flood,” Lemery said. “The problem is the damaged equipment and knocked-over tanks affected my ability to transfer beer to finishing tanks to carbonate them for packaging or service in the taproom.”
RAD Brewing’s latest releases include a German Wheat beer, “Stairway to Hefe’n.” A new batch of “Ripple,” an India Pale Lager, will be coming down the line this week and an Oktoberfest beer will debut on Sept. 21.
For more, visit theradbrewco.com and follow @theradbrewco on Instagram.
Kinfolk closure
Kinfolk, a Southern fare food truck, has made its last run through Western North Carolina.
Four years ago, Kinfolk’s owners Brady and Emily Martin began circulating the Asheville area with a menu ranging from a signature burger to a catfish sandwich to the recent seasonal special, a sandwich stacked with local country ham, grilled peaches, goat cheese and lettuce.
On Aug. 25, the couple announced the end of service for the mobile business as they pursue something new.
“Brady and I are incredibly grateful to all the loyal customers who kept coming back to eat with us, the breweries who have graciously partnered with us, and the many folks pictured who have worked tirelessly to help us make this dream a reality,” read a statement on Kinfolk’s social media pages posted by Emily Martin.
In 2023, Kinfolk opened a brick-and-mortar counterpart at 1125 Sweeten Creek Road that closed the same year.
In the recent announcement, the food truck operators hinted at the possibility of “a reiteration of Kinfolk in the future.”
For more, follow facebook.com/kinfolkAVL and @kinfolkavl on Instagram.
Upcoming festivals
Celebrate the last of the summer days and nights at these upcoming food and beverage festivals:
Burntshirt Vineyards will host its annual Grape Stomp from 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. on Aug. 31 at 2695 Sugarloaf Road in Hendersonville. Inspired by the iconic “I Love Lucy” episode, Burntshirt will have a “Lucy” look-a-like contest at 2:30 p.m. Live music, wine tastings and wine tours are planned. Admission is free. For more, visit burntshirtvineyards.com and follow @burntshirt.vineyards.
Asheville Greek Festival returns for two days of celebrations with Greek food, dancing and music on Sept. 27-28 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 227 Cumberland Ave. Presale day passes are $3 and two-day passes are $5 online until Sept. 1. Admission for children under 12 is free. For more, visit @avlgreekfest.com and facebook.com/avlgrkfest.
Burial Beer Co.’s 12th annual Burnpile beer and music festival isn’t until Oct. 12 but tickets are known to sell out fast. The brewery has announced its music lineup with John Moreland, Woods, Rosali and H.C. McEntire on the docket to play the stage at Burial Forestry Camp, 10 Shady Oak Drive. Craft beer from more than 60 breweries will be poured. Admission begins at $50. Doors open at 1 p.m. Ages 21 and up. View the full list of participating local, national and global breweries and purchase tickets at burialbeer.com and follow at @burialbeer.
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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Kinfolk closes, RAD Brewing concerts, “Lucy”-style grape stomp, more
