[upbeat rock music] - 12 Bones is a barbecue restaurant and brewery.

The the style of barbecue that we have is it's sort of that eclectic Asheville spirit that's unique.

It's different, it's not what you would see at a traditional Western North Carolina barbecue place.

- Barbecue, as like a category, it has a long history, globally, and everyone has their own interpretation of barbecue and what it should be, but the way we present it, all the different options, beef, poultry, vegetarian options, it's just welcoming.

[upbeat rock music continues] - We really focus a lot on the sides.

Corn pudding, definitely one of our flagship sides.

Certainly, jalapeno cheese grits.

Everyone loves those.

The vinegar coleslaw, that recipe's over 100 years old from Kentucky.

Our cornbread recipe is actually a Northern recipe.

Having a sauce like a blueberry chipotle sauce, President Obama's favorite.

We've got a pineapple habanero sauce, a spicy vinegar sauce.

So, we kind of have the Carolinas covered.

We take inspiration from a variety of places and we're just trying to make our own brand.

[upbeat rock music continues] - The brewery is a little over three years old and the restaurant has 16 years of reputation and my job was to elevate the beer to the reputation of the 12 Bones Smokehouse brand and trying to combine the two, like what goes with barbecue, and then also, kind of expand on top of that.

A lot of our focus goes towards the restaurant, but not all of it.

We still have 16 taps here.

Each restaurant has about five or six.

Our favorite beers are Coastin' West Coast IPA.

We do classic lagers.

We also do hazy stuff, fruited sours, but we kinda tend to lean more towards classic ales, classic lagers.

We're more of like a neighborhood spot here.

[glasses clink] [upbeat rock music continues] - 12 Bones almost has a neighborhood pub feel.

I'm drinking a Coastin', the West Coast IPA.

I find it to be one of the more enjoyable IPAs in the area.

- I've been coming for years.

It's always consistently super good.

Pulled pork, collard greens, sweet potatoes.

So, yeah, that's my go-to.

The other thing I like about 12 Bones is how approachable it is.

The same for years, it's kinda the folks you see in here are anywhere from suits to boots.

- We've seen lots of celebrities over the years.

I think the most famous would be President Obama and his wife Michelle.

They've had our food on three separate occasions.

Anytime you can get that kind of publicity, it's something you can't pay for.

- I've sold takeout to the Secret Service out the back door with like the government credit card and like, we had presidents come back and not make a big show of it, just get it to go, just 'cause they really craved the recipes.

I mean, I think the food is just like universally delicious.

- The location we're at now is our South Asheville location, 12,000 square feet, houses are smokehouse and brewery.

The building was built in 1940, but I think it's got a lot of character that you can't replace by building a new facility.

So, that's one thing that we like to do at 12 Bones is revitalize those old buildings and sort of bring new life to them and honor the past, honor the history that they have.

I think that's really special.

[upbeat rock music continues] The River Arts location, originally, it was an old cinder block shack, 1,900 square feet and it was built, I think, in around 1897.

It's been around a long time, got a lot of history there, a lot of work cleaning that place up, but we decided to sort of keep that graffiti look while honoring what that brought to the building.

We hired some of the local muralists and graffiti artists to sort of have a little bit more of a cohesive look.

We got a lot of cool pieces down there and also at our south location.

[upbeat rock music continues] - We have folks that have been coming since day one that still come and we know their names, and then we have folks who are out of town.

There's tourists and our community also includes the folks that work for us and our team and the same as some of our customers.

We have staff here who have been with us for 16 years and we wanna honor the relationship we have with them.

- The staff, we hire everyone from so many demographics and classes and races and religions and I think that's why people feel comfortable and welcomed here.

Just providing the stuff for the people, it's really, it's a pleasure - Really, one of the things that sets us apart and makes us special, well, number one, it's the people, our staff.

I really love our staff and I think they do a great job of making folks feel welcome.

At the end of the day, we wanna make barbecue and beer that we would wanna eat and drink.

- When I think about food, it's such a unifier.

It's something that all humans have in common is eating and it just helps us appeal to even more and more types of people.

When you eat here you kind of realize that there's something special going on.

Just the special mission of like this place is like a safe welcoming environment for people who like delicious food.

[music slows to an end] - 12 Bones Smokehouse has two locations in Asheville.

They're at 5 Foundy Street and they're open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In Arden, you can find them at 2350 Hendersonville Road and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6:00.

For more details, check out their website at 12bones.com.