Recently, I visited the French Broad Brewery in Asheville, North Carolina (see my review of their wonderful Wee Heavy-est for details). French Broad beers are no stranger to me as I’ve been drinking them for years, and I was delighted at their quality and affordability the very first time that I tried them. Shortly after returning home from my trip, I popped open a bottle of French Broad Anvil Porter and was reminded just how much I love this brewery’s beers.

I didn’t buy this beer at the brewery, but instead picked it up here in Georgia at Stout’s Growlers in Canton. This is one of French Broad’s staple beers, and one of the unique things about this brewery is that they tend to stick mostly to a regular line of beers with only the occasional seasonal or specialty brew. That’s in contract to most brewers today that go after the fickle nature of craft beer drinkers with an ever-changing lineup.

From the brewery website:

Anvil Porter - Our Porter is silky smooth, moderately malty, and has wonderful chocolate malt aroma. Light enough to have more than one!

And from the label:

French Broad Anvil Porter is a rich English-style ale, loaded with chocolate and caramel notes.

French Broad Anvil Porter may be a rich beer, but you don’t have to be rich to afford this wonderful brew. I paid $4.49 for a 22-ounce bomber bottle here in Canton, but at the brewery you can buy a case of 12 for $32 on Sundays. That’s an amazing $2.67 a bottle. Pints there will run you just $3.75 and $2.75 on Mondays. A growler fill is $9.50 for 64-ounces and $8.50 on Wednesdays. Alcohol content is not given, but my guess would be in the 5% range.

French Broad Anvil Porter pours to a dark black (but not opaque) color with a thick very creamy tan head of foam and a soft and truly inviting licorice and chocolate nose. Taking a sip, the beer is just about right in body for a porter (perhaps a tad thin) but it’s really packed with licorice and, to a lesser degree, coffee and chocolate notes. The finish is quite roasty and makes the beer finish dry.

As is, I’d give French Broad Anvil Porter 4 stars as a solid every day drinking porter. Bonus ½ star tacked on though for the bargain basement price, and you have a delicious beer at a very reasonable price that I can’t recommend enough.



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