Nantahala Trail Magic brews- anybody had them?

The lemongrass IPA was fantastic. I had several pours of it at Ashevilles Beer City fest. They make the best IPAs in the state without question. Haven't had the stout but I've heard that it's excellent as well. Might be tough to trade for.. I think there were only 800 or so bottles.

 

Who was the impostor Matt that I shared my bottle of Trail Magic with, then? The imperial stout is also good. The bourbon is fairly subtle since it's a blend, but it's a really good stout.

 

We drank the Trail Magic Stout?? I need to start wrinting reviews so I can remember this shit....

 

I'm leaving for Asheville this morning for the weekend I'll keep an eye out.

 

You won't find it in Asheville. They were brewery releases.

 

I have a house just outside Bryson and head over there atleast once a month when we are up there.

I LOVE some fresh Noonday IPA. I get 2 growlers to take back home for the weekend and destroy them.

Anyways.. I bought a Trail Magic RIS maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was the flattest, sweetest mess I've ever had in my life. It could have been a GREAT beer, but it was so flat, I could barely get the cork out of the bottle without the aide of a wine bottle opener. Had the great smokey mtn honey flavor to it, a sweet bourbon, which is actually jack daniels, so not really a bourbon if you could argue.

I went back to the brewery to ask if it was intended to be... well... flat. It tasted like beer straight from the fermenter to the bottle for any of you that home brew.. priming sugar and all, no co2 in it. Not even a bubble from an upside down aggressive pour.

Anyways... it was a waste of $20.. Emailed the owners and got blown off and not a single response and the chicks in the pub said it was suppose to be like that, which sounds... off. It was flatter than a table wine.

I'm gonna give the lemongras DIPA a shot. $15 for a bomber is pricey considering the ABV isn't even high. Their 8 foot drop DIPA in the brewery isn't that awesome, especially for the price. Stick with the basic IPA, it's better.

 

By the way.. if someone wants a bottle of it. BM me. I'm planning on heading back up there in a week or two. I'll snag some of the Lemongrass DIPA, and I'm sure they have some of the flat ass stout left.
$20 for the stout in the 750ml bottle, and $15 for a bomber of the DIPA. I'll trade for something good. I'll warn you that the stout is a waste though, unless I got a bad bottle, in which case the owners told me quietly to f-off.

I had bottle 600-something, so there's plenty left I think from the march release.

 

Must have been a flat bottle. The one bottle I've cracked so far was very much carbonated. They were hand bottling all of them and hadn't bottled before, so mistakes aren't too surprising.

 

See, I went back the NEXT DAY to ask the girl in the tasting room about it. She made some remark that it was suppose to be syrupy and thick.. It wasn't thick, or syrupy.. it was flat as all hell. I would LOVE the flavor of the beer, but the bottle I had flat out sucked.

Pretty put off that going to the brewery got no answer, and emailing them got nothing back. Pretty much says... "hey we're small, but we don't give a shit".

I don't mind spending the money but $20 for a 750 of something that you buy on a whim... thats a bit pricey for a flat dud.

 

The bottle I opened was flat as a pancake too.

I bought 3 and drove a few hours each way to support the place with their new release.

I have one left, I hope it is good. If not, I will not be supporting them any more. Too much $$ flushed.

 

I have bottles in the mid 700's, haven't tried one yet, but expensive based on blind faith.

 

Hey there everyone. I'm the owner of Nantahala Brewing and wanted to thank everyone for their feedback on the first Trail Magic Release. Based on the style guidelines and our brewers personal preference, our Russian Imperial Stout was intentionally lightly carbonated. It should pour with a very small head on it. That said, we did hand bottle the first release (our bottling machine wasn't up and running yet) and have been randomly testing the bottles every week since the release in March. To date, we have not found a flat one, however, we have heard from a handful of patrons that they did receive a flat bottle. So, if you are one of the few folks who purchased a flat bottle. Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) and I will be happy to replace it for you the next time you stop by our brewery. Thanks for supporting our craft brewery!

 

Joe,

Thanks for the post, and thank you for the e-mail.

I'll be down at the brewery in the coming weeks, and hope to be able to get a replacement bottle to give a shot, as well as get my fix of Noonday.

Keep up the good work-