Whiskey River Stout
Catawba Brewing Co.

Had the pleasure of having this one on tap tonight at Barleys. I was suprised I had not seen it before, but never the less I was all over it. The pour was a bit odd. Thick dark black as night with no light penetration what so ever. A small thin film of brown over took the top, but did not hang around long and soon we had a black oil like liquid with no lace at all.

The aroma was rich dark roasted malts. Lots of burnt coffee aromas and a good amount of roasted nut like aromas. This was a very dry stout at first, with not a lot of bosy and virtually no carbonation. However, once warmed up it brought out incredible flavors. Veyr nice smoked tastes were floating in and out and a long bitter finidh was cut short by the sweet taste of vanilla, very intresting. Lots of long lingering dark roasted notes followed you out as you finished. Therew was no taste of alcohol, so I would guess maybe 6%, maybe. Not much, and very drinkable.

Overall not bad by any means. It needed a little more life to it, but the intent was good and the flavors were nice. Gotta love the craft beers in Asheville, truly top notch.