So, I’m at Valley River brewery, one of my favorite places for a beer you see, and I’m up to a couple new things today. The first is that I checked in here with the Pint Pass app, which (they say) pays you to check in at breweries. I’ve had same for a while now, but always forget to use it. Today I made it a point do so, and sure enough it did credit my account $2 for the check in. The proof of the pudding, though, will come when I go to use the money in the account at some future date.
New thing two is that I ordered a pizza here. I’ve always heard good things about their wood-fired brick oven pizza, and after enjoying one I can heartily recommend them. The basic 10-inch medium pie (I finished about half) was $10.95 with mozzarella and red sauce. I added mushrooms and sliced fresh tomato for $.75 each, and sautéed spinach for $1.50. The sauce was tangy, the toppings plentiful and the crust chewy inside and crisp and toasty on the bottom.
Pizza and beer go hand in hand, and far be it from me to break up the two. As I am often wont to do, I ordered a sampler of four beers ($5.50) with the intention of bringing a growler of the lovely Dawn Mild back to the hotel. My plans went awry when one of the beers in my sampler was so wonderful, I decided to get that instead.
The first beer I sampled was Piney Knob Pale Ale, an American Pale Ale in style. I didn’t know what it was when I ordered it but picked up on it as an APA after a sniff and a sip. I asked the bartender if the Piney in the name was because it was piney in aroma and flavor from hops, and she replied that no, instead it was named for Piney Knob Trails in Murphy.
Piney Knob Pale Ale has an alcohol content of 5.8% by volume and sells for $4.50 a pint, $2.25 the half pint.
Despite the name, my sample of Piney Knob Pale Ale was not piney in aroma and flavor after all. It was bright orange ion color with a creamy white head and a soft malty nose. Taking a sip revealed a medium caramel maltiness appropriate to the style, delicate stone fruits, and a crisp hop bitterness.
Very tasty indeed and I would have enjoyed more, but after my first sample, Dawn mild had not been displaced as the beer to fill my Drink Tank growler. Stay tuned to see which beer would.
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