Olde Hickory: Table Rock Pale
May 15, 2012 | 
Author Brewer: Olde Hickory Brewery – Hickory, NC
Website: http://www.oldehickorybrewery.com/
Beer: Table Rock Pale
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 5.1%
Rating (Me): 3.3 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.31/ 5
During a visit to Bruisin’ Ales in Asheville, I picked up this bomber of Olde Hickory Table Rock Pale. Their brewery is in a renovated building in downtown Hickory that dates back to the 1880s. The Olde Hickory Tap Room, definitely a destination for me to check out one Saturday, will be celebrating Craft Beer Week this week with some other NC brews on tap, as well as some Olde Hickory Cask Ales.
Table Rock pale poured a copper/amber color with a small off-white head that lingered a bit and left spotty lacing. A good-looking pale ale for sure. The pleasant aromas of caramel malt and floral hops were unfortunately downgraded by a slight metallic/soapy scent. I’m assuming it wasn’t a normal odor and I had an off bottle.
The mouth was fairly smooth and it had good medium body along with crisp/ aggressive carbonation. The sweet caramel malt provides a tasty backbone with soft hops leading to a nice momentary bitterness in the finish. Interestingly, it ends on a sweet note again.
The metallic quality in the initial experience didn’t completely ruin things, but it left me overly critical – and I’d probably give it a few more points otherwise. In the end though, I’d say it’s a solid pale ale and I’m curious to see what else they have to offer. And to be honest, I was wishing I had another pint when I finished this bomber.
- BW
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Asheville, NC shares “Beer City USA” title again.
After a few years of holding the title solo, the 2012 poll has Asheville in a statistical tie with Grand Rapids, MI: http://www.examiner.com/article/grand-rapids-asheville-share-beercity-usa-2012-title
Congrats to both cities on winning this competitive and highly scientific poll! While there certainly will be debate over the results, it’s most important to remember that the beer must flow.
-Cheers, BW!
Foothills: People’s Porter, Hoppyum, and Carolina Blonde
Brewer: Foothills Brewing – Winston-Salem, NC
Website: http://www.foothillsbrewing.com
Hey beer enthusiasts, since I haven’t been posting much, I have a bit of a backlog of reviews and beer to drink. Neither is a good sign. So, in an effort to get through those reviews and change things up a little, I’m going to start posting reviews from a single brewery together and add a little additional company info as well. I still have single beer write-ups, but it’ll be mixed up for a while.
The first brewery is Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, NC. My introduction to their beer was via a growler of People’s Porter I picked up from The Community Tap in Greenville, SC months ago. I was impressed and pretty tempted to make the 30 minute drive out for another growler after the last drop was poured. Foothills has been growing the past couple years and with the beers I’ve tried so far, it’s easy to understand why. Their Sexual Chocolate made quite a stir this year when time for its limited release came around. I’ll make more of an effort next year to get a taste of that stout.
Foothills Brewery has expanded their brewing capacity and merged with the beer side of Carolina Beer & Beverage and took over both Carolina and Cottonwood lines. I’m hoping the increased capacity will allow for more of their brews to make it down to SC.
Beer: People’s Porter
Style: Porter
ABV: 6.25%
Rating (Me): 3.9 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.62/ 5
People’s Porter pours dark brown with a lingering tan head. Some hints of red come through when the light hits it right. Some spotty lacing on the glass. This beer has some great aromas of toffee and caramel primarily, but the undertones of roasted malts, coffee, earth and chocolate make it very inviting.
It has a medium body with crisp carbonation, yet it’s fairly smooth and creamy as well. By comparison the draft definitely had a fuller, rounder mouthfeel. Balanced finish. Flavors of roasted coffee and milk chocolate start off with coffee bitterness and herbal sweetness reminiscent of Jaegarmeister adds to the finish.a
Overall, it’s an excellent porter. The mouthfeel definitely improves on warming, as do the chocolate notes. I’ve also tried the Barrel Aged People’s Porter on tap and it was delicious as well. Highly recommended.
Beer: Hoppyum
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.25%
Rating (Me): 3.8 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.54/ 5
I think I picked up this bomber in Charleston at Bottles in Mt Pleasant.
Hoppyum pours an orange/amber with a small white head. Although small, the head left a nice lasting cover on the brew and looked every bit as tasty as it was. Sweet fruit aromas wafted up – pear and pineapple mostly – as did a solid resinous pine nose. Great aroma.
The mouthfeel was crisp and smooth, medium carbonation and the lighter side of medium in body. Flavors were sweet caramel malts and fruit with a strong pine hop finish. The 78 IBU rating comes through, though it’s not entirely a smack in the face. Very nicely balanced bitterness and sweetness. Some grapefruit notes come through in the finish. Very good IPA overall. I’d have no problem recommending this one.
Carolina Blonde is one of the brews acquired during the recent..err…acquisition. I rated this beer a couple years ago and wasn’t all that impressed (2.2 out of 5). Recently I tried it again, now under the Foothills brand, and found it was improved. A decent blonde ale that I wouldn’t turn down on hot afternoon, but I wasn’t exactly wowed by it either. My more recent rating was 2.9 of 5. Whether my tastes changed or there has been some modification to the beer in the past couple years or by Foothills, I’m not entirely sure. Worth a shot if you like Blondes, and what gentleman doesn’t?
- BW
Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and now Oskar Blues near Asheville!
Excited to hear about all the major breweries coming this way and choosing western NC to open shop! So many more southern beers to try soon!
For more info: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20120502/ENT/305020050/-Oskar-Blues-building-major-brewery-Brevard
LoneRider: Peacemaker Pale Ale
Brewer: Lone Rider Brewing Company – Raliegh, NC
Website: http://www.loneriderbeer.com/
Beer: Peacemaker Pale Ale
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 5.7%
Rating (Me): 3.8 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.18/ 5
Someone mentioned this beer to me months ago, but I was never able to find it until I visited Bruisin’ Ales in Asheville. I don’t think this brewery sells in SC, unfortunately.
Peacemaker Pale pours copper/amber with a white head that lingers and leaves nice lacing – evident in the photo on the right. It has nice aroma of caramel malt, resionous pine, as well as some citrus and herbs.
The body is medium and it’s unusually smooth for a pale ale. Excellent balance of caramel malt with the citrus/pine hop bitterness. Overall, a great pale ale that I’ll be on the lookout for again. Plenty of flavor, nice balance, and I could easily put back a few in an evening. Worth checking out.
- BW
Westbrook: Bella Vigna Tripel
Brewer: Westbrook Brewing – Mount Pleasant, SC
Website: http://www.westbrookbrewing.com
Beer: Bella Vigna Tripel
Style: Tripel
ABV: 8.5%
Rating (Me): 4.0 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.5 / 5
After months of putting off buying something from this relative newcomer from Charleston, I finally dove into a 750mL bottle recently. With temps inching over 80 degrees in March already, I thought a tripel might hit the spot, though honestly I didn’t know how much the wine barrel fermentation would add to the flavors. The Barrel Room series based on tripels (so far?) that age in wine barrels. From the Westbrook site: “We aged this Tripel for 9 months in French oak barrels that were used to mature the 2008 vintage of Whetstone Bella Vigna Pinot Noir.”
This brew pours a cloudy copper color with a very big off-white head that lingers and leaves some nice lacing. The big head was almost annoying until I realized it was just helping to build my anticipation. Excellent looking beer. Aromas grapes and red wine were very evident up front. Secondary notes of apple, yeast, wheat, peppery spices and candy came through as well.
On tasting Bella Vigna, it had a crisp and rounded mouthfeel. Very interesting texture that put me in the mind of drinking champagne. Flavors followed the nose, but not as sweet as I imagined it would be. The oak from the casks comes through more on the tongue, as does the fullness of the pinot noir grapes.
Overall, a very enjoyable beer. nicely complex and would be great to share while watching the sunset over some of that beautiful Charleston coastline. I will be seeking out a bottle for another evening in the future.
- Cheers, BW!
Upstate International Beer festival
Happy Friday and 4/20 to those who partake! Just wanted to put in a quick plug for the Upstate Beer Fest in Greenville, SC tomorrow afternoon – http://www.upstatebeerfest.com/
I’m still deciding whether or not I’ll be going, but if I do I will give a write-up about it. Looks like a great list of breweries will be there.
Bottom’s up, BW!
Red Brick: 15th Anniversary (2010)
Brewer: Red brick Brewing Company – Atlanta, GA
Website: http://www.redbrickbrewing.com
Beer: 15th Anniversary – Aged in Bourbon Barrels (2010)
Style: Strong Brown Ale
ABV: 9.0%
Rating (Me): 3.7 / 5 Rating (RateBeer): 3.54 / 5
Drank this a while ago and finally getting to posting the review.
Aromas on this Strong Brown Ale are bourbon, sweet caramel malt, raisin, molasses, overripe bananas and vanilla. Nice complexity. It pours a hazy, reddish brown with an inch or so of tan head that leaves some spotty lacing.
I was anxious to try this brew based on the delicious nose wafting up. As expected the sweet malts were on display here. An interesting fruity tartness like pineapple and wood came up in the middle and it finished crisp and fairly dry. It has medium carbonation and slightly lighter body than expected with the maltiness – still there was solid medium body and the mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, so no complaints there.
Almost no hops noticeable at this age, but still a very enjoyable brew. I certainly wouldn’t turn down another one, and I’m interested in trying out Red Brick’s 16th Anniversary Ale. This was a great way to bring in the New Year (I said it was a while ago). In fact, I was a bit disappointed when I was at the end of it.
- Cheers, BW!