Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#320: The spirits are always flowing at Pack's Tavern, both in glasses and through the walls

• Skip Mauney & Tyler Brown • Episode 320

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Step back in time at Pack's Tavern, a family-owned Asheville gem where history, hauntings, and hospitality create an unforgettable dining experience. General Manager Tyler Brown pulls back the curtain on this 1907-built establishment, revealing far more than just their impressive 36 beer taps and scratch-made food philosophy.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Tyler shares the building's spectral residents and the 12-mile network of Prohibition tunnels running beneath downtown Asheville. A tragic 1915 story of a woman who discovered her husband moving moonshine through these very tunnels sets the stage for Pack's reputation as one of Asheville's most haunted locations. With original gallows and jail cells still part of the property, history buffs will find as much to savor here as food enthusiasts.

What truly distinguishes Pack's Tavern is their "fun with purpose" approach and unwavering community commitment. Tyler candidly discusses how their exceptional staff powered through both the pandemic and Hurricane Helene's devastation, showcasing the resilience that defines Western North Carolina's spirit. Whether you're hunting for the perfect local amber, seeking a menu that satisfies every family member, or hoping to glimpse the historic 1932 yellow truck out front (the second-most photographed object in Asheville), Pack's delivers an authentic taste of Asheville's past and present. Visit paxtavern.com or their social media channels to plan your visit and become part of their continuing story.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Maude.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So I am very excited today to have a very special guest in the studio for the first time, although we've had a co-worker here before. But we're thrilled to have the general manager of PAX Tavern, mr Tyler Brown, here with us and excited to learn all about him and PAX Tavern and what they do. So I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am, because it's my pleasure to introduce to you Mr Tyler Brown of PAX Tavern. Tyler, welcome to the show. Yeah, brown of Pax Tavern. Tyler, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

Speaker 2:

Well, like I said, we're thrilled to have you and love food, so very excited to learn all about Pax Tavern and the history and anything you want to share with us. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about Pax?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so PAX is actually a family-owned restaurant. It was opened in 2010. It's a Prohibition-era restaurant that was actually built in 1907 as an original part but still original hardwood floors. The other part was actually built in 1912, an additional part for the Lumberyard. So such a booming time in Asheville, food for everyone 36 beer taps, 34 are local beers. We try to do everything we possibly can to kind of really boost that local community, cause it's very tight knit. I mean, it's beer city North Carolina.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely I would. I would beer city, I love it, I love it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and you know, got wood fired oven. We got honestly food for everyone Kids, grandma, mom, dad. Everyone can find something here vegetarian options, vegan options. We try to make it so you can kind of go to one place and not have to go to multiple places to kind of get what you're looking for.

Speaker 2:

And so for everybody, everybody's welcome. Yeah Well Tyler, how did you get into the restaurant business?

Speaker 3:

Well, I personally got into the restaurant business 16 years ago and I fell in love with it and kind of ran, been through everything you could think of. But I know we opened up Pax Tavern. You know we wanted a safe place for everyone to come eat, have great food and be able to create great memories for locals and even for tourists. I mean, when you go out to places, it has to be fun, and that's really what we want to do. Is fun with purpose is really what we strive for. And the reason why we can do that is because of our people. Our people are honestly incredible. They're here day in and day out. We've been through so much as it is, but they come in here with an energy that is unmatched, I think, in town. I think that we have one of the top notch staff. So you look at our reviews. Our service reviews are incredible. We make everything in house scratches honestly an incredible place to come visit.

Speaker 2:

Very cool, Very cool. Fun with with purpose. I love it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you have to have fun.

Speaker 2:

If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong, no matter where you're at like for sure, that's exactly I couldn't Well, what are some myths or misconceptions about the restaurant business, or specifically PAX, if there are any?

Speaker 3:

Well, the restaurant business. I feel like too many people have seen the movie Waiting and they think that everyone's out to destroy food if you complain. But I will tell you I can speak for a lot of the restaurants in Nashville because I think we actually ranked top five in destinations in America for food recently. But everyone in town takes really a big pride in making sure they sell great quality food. They want to make sure you're having a great time. Your beer's cold.

Speaker 3:

If you don't enjoy something, I feel like the best thing to do is to ask for the manager and just be honest with them. They want to make sure you leave there with a great taste in your mouth. They want you to be able to eat that food and they do want you to come back and they want you to be able to get something different or maybe try that same dish. Because a lot of the restaurants here, like us alone. We change our menu every six months because we want to make sure we keep it fresh. Things that don't work, things that don't work well, we want to stay with the menu and keep it going. I know almost every restaurant in town does the same thing.

Speaker 2:

So I think that's one big thing always get concerned about is, if they send their food back, it's going to be tampered with, which is completely wrong. Everyone takes a lot of pride in what they do in this industry. Absolutely Well, you mentioned the food. Food's great, apparently. The atmosphere is fun. Tell us. You know you mentioned prior to the podcast starting that there's a lot of history in your facility, so why don't you tell us some about that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so a lot of people actually don't know and I've been here a little over six years now and this building's from 1907, like I was saying, there's actually tons of ghosts in the building.

Speaker 3:

I actually know of a report from 1915.

Speaker 3:

So we actually have a prohibition tunnel downstairs in our basement that leads to 12 miles of underground tunnel in downtown Asheville and there was actually a lady who found her husband at Moving Moonshine in the basement and she actually got killed in the basement of our building and her sphere is actually still locked back there.

Speaker 3:

And if you come in and you ask managers, everyone will give you a different story. Me and the other managers have never told our story together and we actually saw the same apparition. She was wearing the same dress, but we actually have like the original gallows behind our building, original jail behind our building that we own and, like everyone died in the fire. This is one of the most like haunted areas in Asheville and we do so many tours throughout the day and I feel like people they see how old the building is but they're afraid to ask about it. But honestly, if people who like the tour, it could be a 30 minute, 40 minute tour of just walking around the basement and seeing the tunnel, hearing the crazy stories of what happened, because 1900s is a very different time than the 2000s.

Speaker 2:

Wow, 12 miles of tunnels. Have you been in the tunnels?

Speaker 3:

Unfortunately. No, we do have a little bit of it open that we do show off. I do have another access point. I learned of that. I plan on trying to go in. Hopefully the city's not watching this podcast right now, but they don't like people getting in there because I know about nine years ago part of the tunnel actually collapsed and they had to go back under and restructure it. Um, but I know that city hall and the county courthouse behind us actually still have connecting tunnels people climb through, uh, because they still have access points. So I know it's still open to some point, but they don't really let people just go in there wow, very cool.

Speaker 2:

I would love to check that out. Honestly, I love history.

Speaker 3:

Big big history buff there's so honestly, this side of town like ashville, like one of being the earliest settlements here, is. I'd love to check that out. Honestly, I love history, big history buff. Honestly, this side of town like Asheville, one of being the earliest settlements here is pretty crazy on how much history and how much I've learned over the years being here.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Well outside of work. If there is time outside of work, tyler, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Oh gosh, the Blue Ridge Mountains. I know you have the same thing. It's honestly incredible going to hike that just any time you get, taking the dogs out. I have a three-year-old and he loves the outdoors, so we try to go out and go hiking as best we can. Also going to the breweries. I mean there's like a brewery at like every step you take in Asheville and you really can't go wrong. If they're here, they're great, a lot of beer seen here. So you can never go wrong. Go hiking and drink a beer at the same time. It's a good day.

Speaker 2:

There you go.

Speaker 3:

It's a great day actually.

Speaker 2:

Or go hiking and then go to a brewery and drink some beer. Oh yeah, yeah, I was just on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville last weekend. So yeah, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Speaker 3:

Good time the leaves are starting to change. I know they have that map on the AIR website for Asheville Independent Restaurants Association. It shows you the blue rich map of how the leaf colors will change throughout the season, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 2:

They seem to be a little early this year, which is cool.

Speaker 3:

I feel like it got a little bit colder than normal, so I'm intrigued to see how the leaves will fall.

Speaker 2:

Same same here. Well, let's change gears for just a second. Tyler, can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end? Anything come to mind.

Speaker 3:

I mean I'm going to talk as a business because this business has been super resilient. I've been here since 2019. And I mean everyone knows 2020 was not an easy time for anybody, especially restaurants going through the pandemic. It was definitely super challenging. It kind of shifted gears and made us really look at a business as a whole and how we had to refocus our energy for our staff and what the priorities were. We started getting our feedback underneath us, our staff and what the priorities were. We started getting our feedback underneath us and then you know we actually are about to hit the milestone of Helvine coming up here in a couple weeks, which I would say was a bigger challenge in the pandemic.

Speaker 3:

Honestly, we wouldn't be here without the staff we have. The community really came together. The owners here were incredible. Getting involved, going through something like that and seeing how hard everyone was dedicated to the restaurant, the business itself and how everyone looked out for each other as coworkers and friends and family here is yeah, it's just unspeakable and it's just. I can't put into words how incredible it is and like that to me is probably the biggest challenge I've ever seen, and the fact that we're still going strong without even fears of closing is incredible, like I mean, you saw how it was firsthand, being a part of that whole disaster, and it really did affect every business in Asheville and all the surrounding areas. So the fact that we were able to rebound as fast as we were is due to resilience of our staff and like concern they have.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. It warms my heart to see, you know it was a horrible, horrible situation, but how the entire community rose up to help each other. You know that was to me it was amazing. You know businesses helping businesses and individuals and you know even people that their house was destroyed were out helping other people.

Speaker 3:

you know, yeah, it's definitely in a dark time in humans, like timing, with everything going on in the world, I feel like that was a very bright light that brought some life back into definitely ashville and definitely north carolina. I mean people talking about it and the amount of people that even came down. I mean we work downtown so we see first responders. There was people from like new jersey, pennsylvania, a Arizona. People were flocking here to come help out and that, to me, is just words. Don't put into it how appreciative Asheville has been of everyone.

Speaker 3:

I mean it's been honestly breathtaking.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more, so super proud to be a Western North Carolina guy.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about PAX Tavern, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

That we have a lot of fun. You're going to come in here, and it's not only you're going to have great food, it's a great atmosphere and you're going to have a great experience and you're going to want to come back and ask for that same server.

Speaker 2:

I have people who will come back three, four times on a four-day trip just because they really do enjoy just that atmosphere and the stuff we really do bring to the table. Very cool, Especially with 36 taps, man, I got to ask. So I'm an amber guy. Anytime I'm in a brewery I always ask do you have an amber?

Speaker 3:

We do actually rotate amber right now. I know we just kicked the bells Amber off. Um, I want to say it's OMB copper on right now, but we actually rotate an Amber. We have one style of everything on at all times throughout the year. We run a sour Amber, we'll run a port or a nitro you can find. You can find like Gaelics and stuff that are kind of similar to an Amber, but not quite in that same family. Um, we have almost anything you could possibly think of on tap. I don't even have a root beer on tap, just because root beer on tap tastes so much better than a fountain.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, absolutely Wonderful. Well, you got me. I will be there soon. If you got an Amber, I'm going to be there. Very cool. And for those of us who want to come check out haven't ever been to PAX planning a trip to Asheville, just interested in checking out what you got to offer.

Speaker 3:

How can, how can they learn more? Paxtaverncom? I mean, if you go on to Google you can definitely look us up. We've got a Facebook page, Instagram, TikTok I promise you you'll find us. We have the historic 1932 yellow truck out front. That was for the end of Prohibition. It still runs. It's an incredible thing to come see. I think it's the second most photographed thing in Asheville right now.

Speaker 2:

Wow, wow. I saw that actually last weekend Very cool. So, tyler, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show and taking time out to tell our listeners and viewers all about PAX and about you and the history of the place, which is fascinating, and we wish you, your team there at PAX and your family all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Skip. It was a lot of fun. I appreciate it and hopefully we'll see you soon in here getting one of those ambers.

Speaker 2:

Yes, sir, and we'll have to have you back on the show again soon. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

Maybe we can do to have you back on the show again soon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely Maybe we can do some ghost stories. Sounds great, perfect, perfect.

Speaker 3:

All right, tyler, you have a great rest of the day, man, you too.

Speaker 1:

Thanks so much, skip. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.