Where to Eat and Drink in Old Fort, North Carolina

October 13, 2026

Breweries, a Distillery, Coffee and the Cinnamon Rolls

Old Fort eats well for its size. Two breweries, a distillery with a full restaurant, two coffee shops, a winery tasting room, a taqueria, a country store cafe, a diner, a burger and ice cream spot, rotating food trucks, and a bakery whose cinnamon rolls people drive an hour for. Most of it is walkable.

Where should you start?

If you have one morning and one afternoon in Old Fort, this is the order.

Time Where What

Early morning Gogo’s, 212 East Main Street Cinnamon rolls. Go early, they sell out

Mid morning Seeker Coffee, 39 Catawba Espresso, and a place to sit

Avenue, or the Catawba Vale

Business Hub, 37 East Main

Street

Lunch Modern Alchemist, Tacos, tortas and bowls or a taco truck

78A Catawba Avenue, that has earned its following

or Taqueria La Chula,

206 Catawba Avenue

Afternoon Hillman Beer, 78 The creekside patio

Catawba Avenue

Later afternoon Whaley Farm Brewery, Lagers and ales, or a glass of North Carolina wine

178 Catawba Avenue,

or Euda Wine

Evening Black Beary’s Cafe, 14 Burgers and ice cream, or a diner that is a diner

West Main Street,

or Deb’s Diner,

189 Catawba River Road

Call ahead. Every business on this page is small. Hours in a mountain town change with the season, with the weather, and with a single sick day. Check before you drive.

Where do you get coffee in Old Fort?

Seeker Coffee

An espresso bar and coffee shop at 39 Catawba Avenue. seekercoffeenc.com

Catawba Vale Business Hub

A community meeting place at 37 East Main Street that works as both a coffee venue and a collaborative workspace, serving North Carolina roasted Counter Culture Coffee. Local artwork on the walls and a curated collection of books by authors of color.

Outside, the wall carries a mural titled Old Fort Together, honoring civil rights pioneer Albert Joyner and depicting scenes from the town’s racial justice history. It is worth walking around the building for. More detail through Destination McDowell.

If you are working remotely and staying in the valley, where there is no cell service, this is the room where you catch up on everything.

Gogo’s

Also serves coffee, and is covered below, because the coffee is not why anyone drives there.

Where do you get the cinnamon rolls?

Gogo’s, 212 East Main Street. gogosoven.com

Handcrafted cinnamon rolls that built a following well beyond McDowell County, and the single most common reason people who do not live here know Old Fort exists.

The only advice that matters: go early. When they are out, they are out, and they are out more often than you would expect. A fuller write up here.

Where do you drink in Old Fort?

Modern Alchemist Co.

78A Catawba Avenue. The largest thing to happen to eating and drinking in this town, and the hardest to summarize, because it is four businesses under one roof: a brewery, a distillery, a restaurant, and a cannabis bar serving hemp-derived beverages.

The building is a historic former sock factory that has stayed in the same family for generations, with 8,500 square feet, holding somewhere between 150 and 175 people. The food is Latin-inspired, built around tacos, tortas, and bowls. The bar runs house-distilled spirits, craft beer, and a serious list of handcrafted mocktails, which is genuinely rare and worth knowing if you are the person in your group who is not drinking.

It opened in October 2025, founded by Nathan Kelischek and Chris Zieber, the pair behind Appalachian Mountain Brewery, who have been operating in Western North Carolina for more than a decade. The space also hosts events, including weddings and rehearsal dinners.

modernalchemist.com · WLOS covered the opening

Hillman Beer, Old Fort

78 Catawba Avenue. A brewery and kitchen with burgers and a patio that sits directly on the creek, which is the whole draw. This is the Old Fort taproom, a distinct space from the Asheville location.

Hillman Beer Old Fort taproom · Destination McDowell listing

Whaley Farm Brewery

178 Catawba Avenue. European-style lagers and British ales, which is a genuinely different lane from most of what Western North Carolina brews, and a welcome one.

whaleyfarmbrewery.com · Destination McDowell covered the opening

Euda Wine

A North Carolina winery with an Old Fort tasting room that also runs food events. Hours shift seasonally, so check before you build an evening around it. eudawine.com

Two breweries and a winery in a town this size is not typical, and it is a reasonable evening on its own.

What about the food trucks?

This is the part a printed guide always gets wrong, because the trucks move and a list goes stale in a month. But leaving them out misrepresents the town because, on a good evening, the trucks are where people are eating.

Taqueria La Chula, 206 Catawba Avenue, is the anchor. It operates as a food truck, and it has the following to prove it, which in a town with this much competition for lunch is saying something.

Beyond that, trucks rotate through the brewery lots and the town’s events, and the lineup changes week to week. The Tasty Traveler is one that turns up on the McDowell County events calendar.

How to find out who is parked where this week:

Check the social accounts for Hillman Beer and Whaley Farm Brewery, which post their lineups
Check the Destination McDowell events calendar, which lists food truck appearances across the county
Ask at whichever taproom you are standing in

If you are staying up the valley with no cell service, look this up before you drive down. It is the difference between a plan and a lap around town.

Where do you eat a full meal?

Davis Country Store and Cafe

75 East Main Street. Southern classics and sandwiches in a country store, which is a category that is disappearing and should not be. Find them here.

Black Beary’s Cafe

14 West Main Street. Burgers and ice cream. Instagram: @blackbearys_oldfort

Deb’s Diner

189 Catawba River Road. A working diner. Not a concept, not a revival, a diner.

Where do you buy groceries and supplies?

Dove’s Morning Fresh Market, 196 East Main Street. The town grocery.

This matters more than it sounds if you are staying in the valley. Curtis Creek Road is not a place with a corner store, and Frisbee’s is the last real stop before you head up. If you are camping, cooking or provisioning a villa, buy here on the way in.

For anything more specialized, Asheville is thirty minutes west, and Marion is fifteen minutes east.

What is open when?

Old Fort runs on small town hours, and that is the single most important practical fact on this page.

Assume:

Breakfast places close early. Some close by early afternoon
Some businesses close two or three days a week, and which days change seasonally
Winter hours are shorter than summer hours
After a storm, hours change without notice
The bakery sells out

So: check the day you are going. Every business above maintains a website or a social account, and a two-minute check saves a wasted drive. In a town this small, that is not a criticism. It is how a place stays independent.

How does this fit into a day in Old Fort?

Food is half the reason to spend a day here. The other half is outdoors. A morning at Catawba Falls or on the Gateway Trails, an afternoon on the creekside patio, and a walk through downtown to see the Seven Wonders murals make for a complete day and cost almost nothing.

Our Old Fort guide covers the trails, the museum, the galleries and Andrews Geyser.

Frequently asked questions

Are there restaurants in Old Fort, NC?

Yes. For a small town, there is a real range: two breweries, two coffee shops, a winery tasting room, a taqueria, a country store cafe, a diner, a burger and ice cream spot, and a bakery. Most are within a few blocks of each other.

What is Old Fort, NC known for food-wise?

Gogo’s cinnamon rolls, which draw people from well outside the county, and Hillman Beer’s creekside patio.

Are there breweries in Old Fort, NC?

Hillman Beer at 78 Catawba Avenue and Whaley Farm Brewery at 178 Catawba Avenue, plus Modern Alchemist at 78A Catawba Avenue, which brews as well as distills.

Is there a distillery in Old Fort?

Yes. Modern Alchemist Co. at 78A Catawba Avenue is a distillery, brewery, restaurant, and cannabis bar in one building, serving house-distilled spirits, craft beer, hemp-derived beverages, handcrafted mocktails, and a Latin-inspired menu.

Are there food trucks in Old Fort?

Yes. Taqueria La Chula at 206 Catawba Avenue is the constant, and other trucks rotate through the brewery lots and town events. Check the taprooms’ social accounts or the county events calendar for who is parked where this week.

Where can you get a good mocktail near Asheville?

Modern Alchemist in Old Fort builds a real list of handcrafted mocktails alongside its spirits and beer, which is unusual in this region and useful if someone in your group is not drinking.

Is there coffee in Old Fort?

Yes. Seeker Coffee at 39 Catawba Avenue and the Catawba Vale Business Hub at 37 East Main Street, which serves Counter Culture Coffee and doubles as a workspace.

Where can you get groceries near Old Fort?

Frisbee’s Supermarket at 196 East Main Street. Worth stopping on your way into the valley, since there is nothing further up.

Is Old Fort walkable?

The downtown core is. Most of the food and drink on this page sits within a few blocks of Main Street and Catawba Avenue, so you can park once.

Where should you eat between Asheville and Marion?

Old Fort is the stop, at Interstate 40 exit 73, roughly halfway between the two.

Where to stay

Wunderland Resort sits on 35 acres at 448 Curtis Creek Road, about ten minutes from downtown Old Fort. Lodging runs from forest villas to glamping pods to vehicle and tent camp sites, and there is a communal kitchen on property.

Provision in town on the way up. There is no cell service in the valley and nowhere to run out to at nine at night, which is a feature rather than a problem once you have planned for it.

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