North Carolina Craft Brewing Part 2 - Various Breweries

To round out the North Carolina trip beer adventure, I have three beers from three different NC breweries to review. They are the Milk Stout from the Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery in Farmville, NC, the Wee-heavy-er Scotch Ale from the French Broad brewery in Asheville, NC and Natty Greene's Buckshot Amber Ale from Greensboro, NC.


Duck Rabbit Milk Stout

Appearance: Dark black color with a finger of khaki colored head. Nice lacing present with this beer.

Smell: Typical stout aroma. Chocolate noted.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Like the nose, some chocolate flavor. Similar to Guinness, but more flavor than the flat taste that I pick up with the iconic Irish Stout. Smoother finish with this beer also.

Overall: A solid stout. The lactose added (hence the Milk Stout style) seemed to make this one sweeter and smoother than a regular stout. I also like the optical illusion with the label. For more info on this beer, please see Duck Rabbit


French Broad Wee-Heavy-Er Scotch Ale

Beer Advocate describes the style as follows:

Scotch Ales traditionally go through a long boil in the kettle for a caramelization of the wort. This produces a deep copper to brown in colored brew. Compared to Scottish Ales, they'll be sweeter and fuller-bodied, and of course higher in alcohol, with a much more pronounced malty caramel and roasted malt flavor. A low tea-like bitterness can be found in many examples. 

Appearance: Beer poured a cola color with more than a finger of creamy khaki colored head. Very nice lacing was present. 

Smell: I picked up a piney aroma on this one. 

Taste/Mouthfeel: This one had a quite unusual flavor for me. Initially I described it as not unlike the flavor of pork skins and eventually turned into more of a burnt or smokey flavor. 

Overall: I had this one on the afternoon of Thanksgiving day on the patio looking at the sun setting over the mountains. Not a bad scene. As mentioned above the flavor of this one was unusual. Not completely unpleasant, but unusual. The setting helped this beer. For more info on this beer, please see French Broad

Natty Greene's Buckshot Amber Ale

Appearance: As you can tell, I brought this one home with me. Copper and amber color beer with one finger of off white head. Good carbonation and decent lacing was present.

Smell: Fruity aromas noted. Not citrusy ones, but more like darker fruits.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Unlike the nose, this beer had some malty flavors, but like the nose, the dark fruits were present also. The mouthfeel was bubbly and the carbonation was a little too much. However, the beer still seemed to have a flat finish.

Overall: This beer was ok, but not remarkable. While in NC, I did have their Southern Pale and enjoyed it more than the Amber. For more info on this brewery, please see Natty Greene's

As I conclude my trip through North Carolina beers, I again am impressed to see so many craft breweries putting out good beers that are readily available in a local supermarket. These Tar Heels have the right idea.

Cheers!