Cellarest Beer Project: So Nice We Visited Twice
At Cellarest Beer Project, beer is given time to become itself—and visitors are encouraged to do the same.
ROAD TRIPASHEVILLE
Ben and Rebecca Marmaduke
9/21/20266 min read
A Brewer's Long Way Home
Mark Goodwin's path to Cellarest is almost a story in itself. He began homebrewing in 2006 while earning his undergraduate degree at Appalachian State University, then headed west in 2009 after a road trip that took him through national parks and breweries around the country. In Portland, he became head brewer for several McMenamins brewpubs before moving to Cascade Barrel House, where he developed his skills in blending, barrel work and mixed-culture brewing.
When Mark returned to Western North Carolina in 2016, he joined Burial Beer Company as its head blender, helping create and manage its mixed-culture program. With the opening of Cellarest in 2021, he finally had a place to concentrate on the styles that most intrigued him: wood-rested lagers and ales and barrel-aged mixed-culture beers.
That background helps explain what makes Cellarest so distinctive. Mark and Harrison aren't putting beer into wood simply to make it taste like oak. They believe the process can soften and refine a beer, giving it another dimension—a sense of time and place.
You can taste that philosophy even in something as seemingly straightforward as a Kölsch. The style is notoriously difficult to brew well because its delicacy leaves very little room to hide mistakes. Cellarest's Krispr Kölsch was clean, delicate and beautifully composed, the sort of beer that demonstrates how much skill can go into making something appear effortless.
The Basics
Location: 395 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC
Parking: Street parking and nearby neighborhood parking
Website: cellarestbeer.com
Social media: Facebook, Instagram
Vibe/Atmosphere: Urban, funky, chill, unpretentious, neighborhood watering hole
Beers We Tried: Conifery Spruce Pilsner, Krispr Kölsch, Amara Saison, Máni Dunkel, Hinterland Oak Rested Red Lager, Sisu Oak Aged Wild Grisette
Important NC Beer Explorer Tip: When consuming alcohol, always have a designated driver. Be safe out there, friends! Follow these simple tips for safer consumption.
And then there are the beers that take the idea considerably further.
Cellarest works with wild yeast and mixed cultures, including a strain Mark propagated from a wisteria plant growing in his own yard. That wild character becomes part of the brewery's ongoing exploration of what happens when beer, wood, yeast and environment are allowed to interact over time. A beer such as Mark's Sapling Jack Oak Aged Wild Saison—fermented and rested in a red-wine puncheon with foraged yeast before being aged on grape skins—is a particularly vivid example of that philosophy.
But you don't have to be a person who automatically reaches for the sour section of a beer menu to appreciate what they're doing.
The Beer That Changes the Conversation
When we sat down at the bar, Harrison suggested several beers that tend to produce what he calls the wow response from customers. We worked our way through six of them, and two in particular surprised us: Hinterland Oak Rested Red Lager and Conifery Spruce Pilsner.
The Red Lager demonstrated just how beautifully wood can work when it isn't trying to be the star of the show. There was depth and refinement without an overwhelming barrel character. Conifery took the experience somewhere entirely different, bringing an unmistakable sense of the forest while remaining recognizably a beer rather than becoming a novelty.
The lineup also included Amara Saison, Máni Dunkel and Sisu Oak Aged Wild Grisette, giving us a pretty good sense of the breadth of Cellarest's brewing interests. Ben described the tap list as somewhat esoteric, and Harrison agreed that he and Mark aren't necessarily trying to make the most obvious beer choices. They're interested in exploration.
That philosophy resonates with us because our own tastes have changed dramatically over the years. We once had fairly fixed ideas about what we liked and didn't like in beer. Then we kept trying things. Sours, triple IPAs, imperial stouts, saisons, lagers—and eventually we discovered that the category of beer we didn't like was considerably smaller than we thought.
Harrison told us that Cellarest tries to make something for everyone, operating from the belief that if someone thinks they don't like beer, perhaps they simply haven't tried enough different kinds.
We couldn't argue with that.
Worth Waiting For
We've been wanting to visit Cellarest Beer Project for a long time, and for Ben, the anticipation went back more than a year. He had met Mark Goodwin at Durham's Rare and Vintage Beer Festival and came away fascinated by Mark's approach to brewing—particularly his passion for wood-rested and mixed-culture beers. So when Cellarest finally appeared on our Asheville itinerary, it was a stop we were genuinely looking forward to.
As it turned out, we probably couldn't have chosen a more appropriate brewery for a trip where we were trying to slow down and savor the experience. Time is woven into almost everything Cellarest does.
The brewery sits on Haywood Road in West Asheville, behind a bright blue cinder-block facade that gives little indication of what awaits inside. Once through the door, however, the personality of the place begins to emerge: Mueller tanks line the walls, enormous wooden barrels are stacked and tucked into corners, and green vines wind their way through the brewing equipment. Outside, a covered patio is furnished with weathered barrels as simple tables, creating the comfortable, slightly funky atmosphere of a neighborhood gathering place.
Nothing about Cellarest feels overly polished or precious. It feels lived in. And that's part of its charm.
The patio at Cellarest was quiet on a Monday afternoon - but it's easy to imagine a lively crowd enjoying the vibe and beers.
It's Not About Me
There was another part of our conversation with Harrison that stayed with us after we left.
Five years into Cellarest, we asked how he maintains the passion and energy that inspired the brewery in the first place when the reality of running a brewery means serving customers every day and, practically speaking, brewing beer around the clock.
His answer was candid. After twenty years in the hospitality business, he has learned to remind himself that it's not about him—it's about the customers and the products and experiences they deliver. Every day brings another challenge, but it also brings another opportunity to live up to the original vision.
That seems to be at the heart of Cellarest.
Even the name carries the idea. It refers not only to the cellar where beer rests, but to the act of taking your time and enjoying what is in front of you. Each batch has its own character, shaped by the time and place in which it was made. When that beer is gone, it's gone.
The brewing matters.
So does the drinking.
And perhaps most importantly, so does the time spent drinking it with people you love
We never get tired of photographing good-looking beer flights.
Wood aging lends character to Cellarest 's beers.
Cellarest Co-Owners Mark Goodwin and Harrison Fahrer have known each other for decades before founding Cellarest.
Once More with Feeling
There was a small scheduling mishap on our first visit, and Mark wasn't actually at the brewery when we arrived Monday afternoon. Harrison graciously stepped in, and we were more than happy to spend some time talking beer with him. Later in the week, Ben returned to Cellarest for another visit while Rebecca stayed back at our apartment with a book and a nap.
Which, in retrospect, feels entirely appropriate.
Cellarest isn't really a brewery that seems to ask you to rush through a flight before heading off to the next stop. Its philosophy is about making connections, slowing down and enjoying the moment, and the physical space reinforces that idea. The barrels, the greenery, the patio, the people gathered around tables—it all encourages you to settle in.
Asheville has no shortage of breweries worth visiting, and Cellarest doesn't need to shout to distinguish itself among them. Its character comes from a quieter kind of confidence: the willingness to let beer take the time it needs, to explore what wood and wild yeast can contribute, and to trust that people will appreciate the difference.
We arrived at Cellarest because Ben had been curious about Mark Goodwin's brewing for more than a year.
We left with a deeper appreciation for what happens when good beer—and the people who make and drink it—are given a little more time.
And apparently, one visit wasn't enough.
NCBE's Beer Notes - Cellarest Beer Project
Hinterland Red Lager, 4.0% ABV*
Appearance: mousse beige head, red-brown, clear
Aroma: bread crust, caramel
Taste: same as aroma, roasted, banana, spice (cardamon, clove), oak
Mouthfeel: light, medium carbonation
Finish: oak develops in the finish, bittery
Overall: surpisingly light
Conifery Spruce Pilsner, 5.0% ABV
Appearance: yellow, clear, brilliant, generous white foam
Aroma: spruce ("Christmas tree," "enchanted forrest")
Taste: sprucy, earthy, bread
Mouthfeel: light
Finish: bitter, citrusy, zesty
Mani Dunkel, 5.0% ABV*
Appearance: dark gold, light white foam
Aroma: bread, malt, toffee
Taste: roasted grain, caramel, baking spice
Mouthfeel: medium body, soft
Finish: balanced sweet-dry
Bimble Coffee Blond, 4.8% ABV (collab with Riverbend & Coffee Library)*
Appearance: hazy gold, generous and lasting foam head
Aroma: coffee, lightly sweet ("vanilla latté")
Taste: coffee, earthy, brown sugar, honey
Mouthfeel: pillowy, mellow
Finish: lingering coffee
Sisu Wild Grisette, 5.0% ABV*
Appearance: yellow, clear, light head
Aroma: oak, chomokile, oolong, floral, funky
Taste: sour ("puckery") crisp, fruity, oak, starfruit
Finish: sour, oaky
