Finished with Biltmore Estate? Hillman Beer is minutes away on Sweeten Creek Road. Award-winning craft beer, local food, and a creekside patio await.
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What to Do After Visiting Biltmore Estate: Asheville’s Best Eats, Drinks, and Experiences

After a full day walking Biltmore Estate’s 8,000 acres, exploring the Vanderbilt mansion, and wandering the gardens, most visitors want two things: a seat and something cold to drink. What to do after visiting Biltmore Estate does not have to be complicated. Hillman Beer, located at 25 Sweeten Creek Road near Biltmore Village, is a short drive from the estate’s main gate and offers exactly what the end of a long day calls for.

Founded in 2017 by Brad, Greig, and Brandi Hillman, this family-owned brewery started in a garage and grew into one of Asheville’s most respected craft beer destinations. The beers are traditional, well-made, and built for drinking more than one. The food is honest and locally sourced. The vibe is relaxed without being forgettable.

Why Hillman Beer Is the Right Stop After Biltmore

Location is the first reason, and it matters more than people think. After spending time at Biltmore Estate, re-entering downtown Asheville traffic is rarely appealing. Hillman Beer’s Sweeten Creek Road location sits in the same southern corridor, meaning you stay out of the busiest parts of the city while still landing somewhere worth the detour.

The brewery opened its Asheville location in April 2017, and the proximity to Biltmore Village was never an accident. The creekside patio backs up against a natural setting that echoes the grounds visitors just spent hours exploring, without the admission ticket or the walking tour. You trade formal elegance for genuine comfort, and that shift after a long day of sightseeing tends to land well.

According to Visit North Carolina (2023), Asheville consistently ranks among the top five most visited cities in the state, with Biltmore Estate drawing over 1.4 million visitors annually. That volume means post-visit options near the estate matter enormously to how people remember their day in Western North Carolina.

Hillman Beer’s model fits that moment. The brewery is not a loud sports bar or a high-turnover tourist trap. It is a neighborhood taproom with intimate indoor seating, a welcoming outdoor patio, and a family behind the bar who built the place from scratch. That combination creates a landing spot that feels earned rather than manufactured.

“We’re not trying to reinvent beer. We’re just trying to make classic styles really well, so you want to have another one.”

Hillman Beer’s position near Biltmore Village makes it a logical and rewarding stop for anyone deciding what to do after visiting Biltmore Estate. The creekside setting, family ownership, and straightforward approach to craft beer create an atmosphere that complements rather than competes with the estate experience.

Award-Winning Beers Worth Sitting Down For

The beers at Hillman are the core reason to stay longer than one round. Brad Hillman began homebrewing in 2006 while living in Brooklyn, and that years-long investment in the craft shows up in the glass. The brewery has taken home hardware at the Great American Beer Festival, which is among the most competitive beer competitions in the country.

Hillman’s ESB earned a Silver medal at GABF in 2018 and returned the following year to take Gold in 2019. Their Four Fat Baby received a Bronze in 2017 during the brewery’s first year of operation. These are not participation awards. GABF medals are judged blind by industry professionals and represent genuine quality benchmarks in American craft brewing.

According to the Brewers Association (2023), there are now over 9,500 craft breweries operating in the United States. Earning recognition at GABF in that environment reflects a level of consistency that most small breweries never reach.

The beer list at any given time reflects the same philosophy that produced those medals: classic styles made with care, balanced for drinkability, and intended for real conversation rather than Instagram captions. Whether you order the ESB, a seasonal release, or whatever the bartender is pouring with obvious enthusiasm, you are drinking something that took years of practice to get right.

Hillman Beer’s GABF medals, including Gold for the ESB in 2019, reflect a commitment to quality that goes well beyond local reputation. For visitors deciding what to do after visiting Biltmore Estate, these award-winning beers offer a genuine taste of Asheville’s craft brewing culture.

Food That Does Not Play Second Fiddle

A lot of taprooms treat food as an afterthought. Hillman Beer does not. The kitchen at both locations runs a full scratch-made menu built around locally sourced ingredients and the same quality-first thinking that shapes the beer program.

After a day at Biltmore Estate, you likely need more than a bag of pretzels. The menu delivers. The grass-fed beef patty melt is the kind of thing you remember by name. The house-made falafel wrap holds its own against any dedicated vegetarian spot in the city. Beer-battered fish and chips are made properly, with batter that actually uses the beer being poured twenty feet away.

Menu items rotate seasonally to reflect what is available from farms and suppliers in Western North Carolina. That approach keeps the kitchen honest and keeps the food connected to the region rather than a centralized supply chain. It also means there is usually something new depending on when you visit.

According to Local Harvest (2022), farm-to-table sourcing reduces supply chain distance by an average of 27 times compared to conventional grocery sourcing, which translates directly into fresher ingredients and stronger regional economic impact. At Hillman, that is not a marketing angle. It shows up in how the food tastes.

The kitchen closes at 9pm daily, so if your Biltmore day runs long, plan your arrival accordingly. Both the Asheville and Old Fort locations keep the same kitchen hours, and the food quality holds across both spots.

Hillman Beer’s scratch-made, locally sourced food menu makes it a complete stop rather than just a drink destination. For anyone figuring out what to do after visiting Biltmore Estate, the kitchen offers a satisfying meal that matches the care put into every pint.

Live Events and the Creekside Patio Experience

The physical space at Hillman’s Asheville location adds something that no beer list can fully capture. The creekside patio is one of those outdoor spots that earns its reputation on atmosphere alone. It backs onto the natural landscape of Sweeten Creek, offers shade during warm months, and provides enough separation from the street to feel genuinely removed from city noise.

Live music runs regularly at both the Asheville and Old Fort locations. Seasonal beer releases bring the local community in for something worth gathering around. Community fundraisers tied to local non-profits are a consistent part of the event calendar, reflecting a brewery that treats neighborhood investment as part of its operating model rather than an add-on.

For visitors who want to extend their Asheville experience beyond Biltmore Estate, the events calendar provides a reason to plan your visit around something specific. A weeknight live music set on the creekside patio, paired with a Gold-medal ESB and a patty melt, is a version of Asheville that guidebooks rarely capture well because it requires actually being there.

The Old Fort location, opened in July 2020 at 78 Catawba Avenue, offers mountain views and a more expansive outdoor setting for those willing to drive twenty minutes east on I-40. Fire pit gatherings there take on a character that is distinctly different from the Asheville taproom, both worth experiencing if you have the time.

Hillman Beer’s live events and creekside patio give visitors a reason to settle in rather than move on. As a post-Biltmore destination, the Asheville location offers an outdoor atmosphere and community calendar that turns a drink stop into a genuine Asheville experience.