An Affair to Remember: Find a Seat and So Much More at Anoche
I have been grabbing a seat at bars for decades and I've sat at some fine ones … wonderfully unassuming neighborhood bars in San Francisco, great whiskey bars in DC and Portland, speak-easies in Chiang Mai and NYC, New Orleans and its mighty bar scene, and dive bars from coast-to-coast but in terms of the experience of enjoying atmosphere, service, and spirits … Anoche puts itself in some rarified air. This place is a gem!
My partner had discovered this place solely based on her love of agave spirits during our recent 4 day stay in Asheville and we planned our Saturday as a concert pre-game afternoon at Anoche. We both are lovers of well-crafted cocktails and with a home bar of some 400+ bottles spanning the gamut … we enjoy a great sip most of all. Anoche delivers both!
Saturday afternoon starters at Asheville’s Anoche: mezcal old fashioned on left and the Saladito on the right.
The thing that immediately strikes you as you walk in the door is the shelves of beautiful bottles stacked 2 to 3 deep of agave spirits. If you have a sweet tooth for mezcal and tequila, Anoche presents itself as a candy store. No celebrity brands, no gimmicks or popularity contests, no additives, no bs. This is a well-curated wall of spirits that honors craftsmanship, history, practice, and the ethics of commerce and ecology.
We grabbed seats at the end of the bar and decided to start with cocktails. I got the mezcal old fashioned and she got the Saladito, a beautifully balanced mix of mezcal, lime, and cayenne … both straightforward, all parts present to the palate, delicious. From there it was on to the star of the show … a flight …
Anoche offers 5 spirits flights from beginner to adventurous and throws in a rhum agricole flight (a sugar cane rum known in Mexico as Charanda that is produced in only a few select regions of the country), but I was thinking outside the box and struck up a conversation with Rebecca, the curator of this bar's fine collection, to see if she would humor us with a flight of intriguing, hard-to-find, personal favorites. Not only was she game, but she jumped in with a kind of glee that occurs when you get to share your passion.
We didn't just get a flight, we got an education … on how the spirits are produced, where they originate from, and why they are so special. There were flavors I still don't know how to describe, aromas so unique that they changed your concept of what a spirit can be, complexities and subtleties that challenged and rewarded your mind and palate in equal measure. We took our time and time is your friend … in the glass things swirl, evolve, open up, and reveal. New notes, deeper appreciation, mysteries, and INTENTION. The conversation, the open air atmosphere, sun, music, and mezcal … magic.
Our trio of owner-selected mezcals at Anoche. Photo: C.S. Harvey
(Sidebar: It should also be noted that some of the bottles on the shelves here are incredibly hard to source, and in some cases there are fewer than 5 of these bottles to be found at ANY bar in the U.S.)
After our flight we had one more request … a taste of what Rebecca would consider her everyday sipper … sweet, familiar, balanced, welcoming, and still leaning into flavors to be enjoyed and drawn out. We closed with another round of cocktails … I got the Medianoche … a mix of mezcal, rye, and Fernet that falls in the El Camino style of cocktails, and my partner ended with a classic Anoche margarita. The perfect cappers to our time here!
We hit the Filipino barbecue food truck parked out back, stepped back out into the Asheville summer sun, and felt the buzz of a shared experience, a shared passion, and a shared sip of all that Anoche has to offer. Cheers to Rebecca and her incredible staff! Hands down, one of the best bar experiences I've had — and this place should be on your radar. A true Asheville wonder and a treasure for anyone who loves the stories that great spirits tell!
