New Restaurant in West Jefferson

Plans are currently in the works for West Jefferson to be home to a brewery by the end of the year. Frasers Restaurant and Pub is now under new ownership and will soon become Boondocks Brewing Tap Room and Restaurant. New owner Gary Brown hails from Rocky Mount but has owned a home in Creston since the early 1990s. Brown’s vision is to bring a high-quality brewery/brewpub to the Ashe County area, according to Brown’s website. Over the next couple of months, Frasers will continue restaurant and pub operations as it makes the change to Boondocks Cannon said he and Brown are also looking to incorporate local ingredients to the menu, in addition to brewing unique, high-quality beers using North Carolina-grown natural ingredients. According to its website, the new brewery’s plans are to be able to accommodate upwards of 50 taps. They plan to set aside no less than 10 taps for N.C. brewed beers and three to five taps to be used by aspiring brewers, to include home brewers. Other tentative plans include a taproom in the large dining room, an outside patio area, bike parking and a pet-friendly area. The new name and logo will be unveiled soon, while the other changes will be gradual, with the full-scale launch aimed at spring 2013.

For more area news and updates, browse our West Jefferson real estate site.

Students Get Ready for 2012-2013 School Year

Summer is over for most students in Ashe County on August 6th. Most kids probably thought the summer went by way too fast, but on August 7th kids will have to get back on the busy Ashe County school schedule. The daily school schedule will be 8:25 to 3:25 for ACHS. ACHS is hosting a Freshman Orientation on Monday, August 6th from 9:00 till 11:00. Parents and Freshman will gather in the auditorium at 9:00 a.m. with a presentation of information needed for the coming school year. They will then have time to locate their classrooms and meet with teachers. Schedule change requests can be made in person by the student during the school day on August 7 and 8 during normal school hours. The window for schedule changes will close at 3:30pm on August 8. Exceptions to this will be for WCC classes and inevitable errors that are discovered as we move through the first week of school. They will not be able to honor schedule change requests made after the start of the school year. The 2012 – 2013 parking passes this year may be purchased from the School Office for $30.00. Students must present a valid driver’s license. The 2012-2013 student meal prices will $1.00 for breakfast, $2.10 for lunch and $.40 for student reduced lunch.

SugarBrew at Sugar Mountain

Sugar Mountain Resort’s SugarBrew is just around the corner. The summer, mountain festival begins at 11 am and winds down at 6 pm on Saturday, August 4th. General admission and parking are free. The main attraction will be the sampling of domestic craft and import beers from local favorites to famous foreigners. Some of the beers you’ll find on tap include Sweetwater Brewing from Atlanta, GA, Olde Hickory Brewery just down the road in Hickory, NC, Kind Beers from Charlotte, NC, French Broad Brewing and Highland Brewing Company from Asheville, NC, Thomas Creek Brewery from Greenville, SC, Abita Brewing from Abita Springs, LA and Front Street Brewery from Wilmington, NC. Franziskaner Weissbier comes all the way from Munich, Germany and Staropramen Lager comes from Prague, Czechoslovakia. A few Yankee brews like Brooklyn Brewery from Brooklyn, New York, Sam Adams from Boston, MA, Southern Tier from Lakewood, NY, Narragansett Beer from Providence, RI and Blue Point Brewing Company from Long Island, New York will make their way South for the first annual SugarBrew. Of course, local brewer Blowing Rock Ale will be on tap and the resort will be proud to be the stage for local company Blind Squirrel Brewery as they launch their brand new brews. That’s not all. For a complete list of breweries please visit www.sugarbrew.com/breweries.

Beech Mountain Bike Race

The town of Beech Mountain invites everybody this weekend on July 21 to the brews and views bike race. This is the second annual brew and views festival, the bike championship race’s last for three days. The Festival includes 40 craft brews, music from three bands, professional and amateur mountain bikers compete for Championships. This festival is for all age groups, activities for kids includes games and inflatables, paint facing and a chance to win a specialized youth mountain bike. Some of the craft beers involved in the tasting are; blowing rock Summer Ale, Shock Top, Southern Tier Hop Sun and plenty more. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.

Fun Hike with a Wonderful View

Grandfather Mountain offers one of the most beautiful scenic trails in Western NC. It has a couple of trails that can reach about 1000 feet over the mile high swinging bridge. If you like a long hike and still take you to the top of Grandfather Mountain you can take the profile trail. The profile trail starts off the road at NC 105. The trail length is 3.1 miles long, It starts with rolling pathway through seasonal wildflowers then crosses the Watauga river, the lower part is considered fairly easy. The Upper part of the trail gets steeper but with rest stops with stone and log benches on the way up, the trail is strenuous but comes with a great price with the wonderful views. The profile trail ends when you arrive at the Calloway gap trail. At the top of Calloway gap there is two different ways to get to the very top of the mountain. These trails can have hard obstacles to overcome to get to the top. For example there are 4 or 5 different ladders and cables to climb sheer cliff faces. You do have to pay a hiking fee if you plan on going to the very top, but if you just want to hike the profile trail then hike down there is no fee. If you have not experienced these trails and you love the outdoors then you need to give Grandfather Mountain a visit.

Proposed Tax Changes for 2011

This is a letter that a local CPA prepared for me explaining the proposed tax changes for 2011.  For a lot of you it may be a great time to liquidate some of your retirement funds and purchase North Carolina or Virginia property.  Check with your local CPA for all of the details today and click the link below to see the letter prepared by my personal CPA.