Catawba Valley Blackwater Uber Pale Ale

Brewed by Catawba Valley Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Morganton, North Carolina USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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Tap at Barley’s in Asheville on 2/3/08: Pours a mostly opaque with dark mahogany hues and a full-lacing tan head. Aroma of sweet earthy dark caramel and some milk chocolate notes. Body starts with good sweet dark caramel maltiness and big fresh resiny piny hops toward a crisp, slightly warming bittersweet finish. A good strong hoppy dark beer.

Growler. Pours dark brown/black. Dark tan head. Aroma of burnt grains. Floral citrus hops scent. Coffee and fruit. Tastes like a dark chocolate bar filled with hops instead of nuts or cocoa nibs. Pretty strong too.

on tap @Barleys Taproom-pours a rich light brown head that laces and dark brown color. Aroma is dark malt-chocolate, earthy. Taste is dark malt-chocolate/licorice/roasty, earthy. Interesting Schwarz PA.

10 oz goblet at Barley’s Sweet malty aroma, Little smoke. Got some pine. chocolate. Brownish black color, small, but solid head, good lace. Bitter sweet flavor. Molasses, grapefruit, coffee. Medium body, creamy mouthfeel, bitter sweet finish, Nice roasty pale ale.

Draught at Barleys, Asheville. Pours a dark brown with a small off-white head. Nose is roasty, chocolate, hops. Flavor is a nice mix of semi-sweet chocolate, bitter hops, and some bready malts. The finish was a bit meh, but overall this was a goofd take on the black ipa style. Similar to stone 11th.

Appearance: Dark brown body topped by a small, beige head. Smell: Mixture of dark malts and pine needles with a touch of booze. Taste: Dark malts, a bit of roastiness meets a strong pine hop flavor and moderate bitterness. Small hint of unsweetened chocolate present, but it gets lost amidst the bitterness. Dry, lingering finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: There sure are alot of hoppy black beers running loose these days.

Draft @ Barleys. Pours obsidian black with very small slightly off-white head. Nose is packed to the brim with hops, mostly earthy and wooden, but with a slight citrusy undertone. Soft and full on the palate, the beer almost immediately hits you with a palate-killing peppery hop bitterness, only assuaged slightly by a sweet bready malt character. The finish is long and very drying, with a vegetable-like hop flavor. Alcohol is buried by the IBUs, in a good way. There’s almost no roasted character to the beer either, which is surprising considering the color. An unusual and intruiging beer, although probably one I won’t seek out.

The aroma was grassy with a light low chocolate presence and a citrusy/grapefruit character which was somewhat bready. The beer arrived pitch black with an off-white low head which was quite persistent. The flavor was filled with grassy and citrusy hop flavors which dominated. The beer was very, very bitter and that flavor lingered long into the aftertaste along with a bit of chocolate. The body was medium full with a creamy character on the palate. No real alcohol presence to note except for a low warming post consumption. Sniffer at Barleys in September 2007.

Draught. Despite the name pours very dark nearly black with tan head. Aroma has dark chocolate and roasted malt. Flavor has alot of hopiness. Good lingering aftertaste has a difenate pine taste. Really good.

Brewsgrass 07** Pours like a stout, big and black as night with a khaki head.Flavor reminds me of a dark roasted pale ale.Hoppy and bitter, with a piney finish.