by Mick Kelly . photo by Stewart O’Shields

Walking through the doors of the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Biltmore Village is like walking into some sort of rustic, elegant European hunting lodge. Pretty much everything about the hotel says "intimate." There are soft lights behind the hotel’s intricate stone columns, antler chandeliers and carved-wood pillars. There’s a sexy red glow in the Red Stag Grill’s bar and private back dining room. For a night of serious girl talk over decadent desserts, try the Red Stag Velvet Cake or Black Forest Lava Cake (both $7). Ask Keith or Sam at the bar to make you a Carolina Cosmopolitan ($10.50) or a Puffin Martini with watermelon vodka ($8.50). If you can splurge, the Girlfriends’ Getaway package, including cocktails and spa treatments, starts at around $500 a night. 828-505-2949 or www.bohemianhotelasheville.com .

Everyone knows Jack of the Wood, the lively, well-designed Patton Avenue pub that serves up Green Man brews and is a decent place to drink any night of the week. But fewer people know Dirty Jack’s (828-252-5502), the Green Man tasting room on Buxton Street, where you can pick up a keg—or perhaps a cute World Cup soccer fan. Dirty Jack’s outdoor courtyard is perfect for a drink before an Asheville Tourists game. Also on Buxton Street: The Prospect. It’s a divey, cinder-block gin joint that’s only been open since February, but it’s already attracting cool kids from far and wide.

One of our favorite people in Asheville said: if the Rocket Club and the Admiral had a baby, it would be the DeSoto Lounge (828-255-1109 or desotolounge.com). So true. All three clubs have helped make a quarter-mile stretch of Haywood Road in West Asheville a little strip of hipster heaven. DeSoto, in the El Dorado building, is the newest. You get extra cool points for ordering the bacon-wrapped dates.