Try?
Back to Valley River Brewery! This time we were on vacation, and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino was our first stop. We arrived around 2PM, played the slots for a few hours, then headed out to find dinner around 4PM. We enjoyed some very good barbecue at Rib Country BBQ, then I dropped the wife back off at the casino-and I headed to the brewery.
I savored a few half pints here, and then filled a growler to take back to the casino hotel (which was comped and helps take some of the sting out of the losses we endured on day 1). Valley River Hangin’ Dog Double India Pale Ale was the beer that I brought back.
There’s not much information about the beer on the brewery website, but I can tell you that I paid $16.95 for a 64-ounce fill, which is not bad in my book. The beer has an alcohol content of 8.9% by volume. If you go on a Sunday as I did, fill ‘er up by 6PM! I got there around 5:37 PM with my drink tank growler in hand, and the bartender was kind enough to tell me the law does not allow sales for off-premises consumption after 6PM.
The name of the beer is derived from the community of Hanging Dog, not far from Murphy. That area is named after an old Cherokee legend, which the locals will tell you if you ask them nicely enough. Buying them a pint of Hangin Dog DIPA might just help grease the skids and get them talking.
Valley River Hangin’ Dog Double India Pale Ale pours to a bright orange color with a very light head formation on a growler pour straight from the brewery. The nose is citrus and earthy herbal notes, and a sip reveals a thick caramel malt palate with very bitter citrus rind, lemongrass, earthy herbal grassy hops and a very long, very dry bitterness. Like a classic American DIPA smashed together with a classic English IPA.
MALT!!!!! With my hops, of course. I loved it.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler
