Beer:Dark is a Bohemian lager with, by Burial standards, a rather short name. Brewed with fresh marigolds and orange zest, Careening Towards the Edge of Deception is a saison. Aged in a foudre, Exhumation of Restless Souls is a Vienna-style lager.
DSSOLVR
DSSOLVR
When we asked the co-founders of DSSOLVR what makes Asheville the perfect place to brew beer, they had different answers.
“It’s the community,” explains Mike Semenec, who’s in charge of marketing and branding.
“Water,” says Vince Tursi, the head brewer. “The water here is incredible,” he goes on to explain. “It’s incredibly easy to make great beer.”
Before opening DSSOLVR in 2019, Tursi was working at Burial. In preparation for opening the doors to his own brewery, he worked on 42 collaborative beers with other breweries. As for opening in a city that already has a lot of breweries, Tursi said it was a no-brainer. He “wanted the competition.”
The co-founders also say that Asheville is an incredibly beer friendly city, with the arrival of heavyweights Sierra Nevada and New Belgium playing an important part in supercharging the scene. It also helps that the local Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College—also known as A-B Tech—has its own brewing, distillation, and fermentation program, which means new brewing talent is always on the way.
What differentiates DSSOLVR, explain the founders, is that it’s at the pivot point between old school and new school. And because they also make wine, cider, and mead, Semenec says. “We exist in all the fermentation spaces.”
As for the name DSSOLVR, Semenec explains that it represents the “blending of the Asheville community with the brewery.” Also, Tursi jokes, “We couldn’t afford any more vowels.”
Beer:Thank You For Existing is the brewery’s flagship Kolsch, while Eternal Mourning is a funky IPA made with three yeast cultures, including one from Tursi’s front yard. Your Dog Here, featuring photos of 200 or so dogs, was brewed as a fundraiser for the Asheville Humane Society.
