November 12th, 2008 beckel
Today I get to drink a massive bottle of a very special ale from San Francisco, California’s Anchor Brewing Company, their 2008 Christmas Ale. Every year Anchor brews this beer with a different recipe and label but the same intent to give you a joyous brew to celebrate life. Though today is more of a bitter sweet day for me, I am sure it will be more joyous after 50.7 ounces of what is sure to be a tasty brew. The initial pour of this beer was probably more carbonated than the future ones will be but produced over 2 inches of a nice frothy light brown head that tastes of spices, caramel and nutmeg and settles in a couple of minutes. This beer really smells like Christmas , nutmeg and other sugary aromas mixed with some gentle dark malt scents including toffee. Color is very black with red hues slipping through when brought to the light. This is a very strange flavored beer. Mouthfeel is smooth, creamy and surprisingly uncarbonated, with a rather light body . Sweet is the first word I would use to describe the flavor of this beer, largely toffee. There are other nice malt flavor to round off the taste but it also seems somewhat tart which is odd. This brew wouldn’t be a bad choice to crack into during the holidays as it would compliment all of the sweets you will likely be enjoying but I have a hard time finding a balance of flavors aside from the somewhat caramelized malt that seems to be the base of this beer. Because this recipe changes yearly I do not know its ABV but it seems to be suggested that past years have been around 5.5% ABV which I would say is likely accurate after my two small glasses. Certainly a unique brew an not bad, but far too much Christmas influence for me to purchase it again, though I’ll likely check out next years batch. If your looking for something gentle to spice up the holidays this may not be a bad idea, though it is probably not for those who won’t appreciate its unique qualities. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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August 6th, 2008 beckel
So here we go again with hopefully another lovely beer from Anchor Brewing out of San Fransisco. This beer first brewed in 1896 took its name from the term “steam” which was used to describe beers brewed with a more primitive technique because of the difficulties and expense involved in refrigeration at the time, this style is legally referred to as California Common. This beer pours with a few inches of healthy plentiful light colored head. Color is copper with very subtle red hints and is very transparent, obviously filtered. Aroma is full of gentle but spicy malt, almost sour aromas are also present. Roasted malt flavor hits the palate first and is most notable but slight bitterness is present rounded off by pale almost lager like malt flavors that produce slight citrus hints fitting the style wel. This is an interesting flavored beer somewhat like a brown ale with very little hops, coming in at 4.9% ABV a bit of alcohol is slightly notable but the carbonation is more prevalent. This beer has a rather lite mouthfeel is very easy drinking, good any day of the week. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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July 24th, 2008 beckel
As you can see I wasted little time in picking up another brew from Anchor Brewing. This time we have the Old Foghorn a barleywine style ale made in the English tradition. This beer pours a very nice deep dark red color. Head is plentiful, solid and relatively light in color. The aroma of this beer is lovely, strong sweet caramelized malt scents balanced with a slightly bitter smell of fermented fruit and alcohol. This beer has an intense flavor as any good barleywine should. Flavors of intense malt and hop bitterness countinue on to flavors of fermented fruit and sweet caramelized malt, finishes with a delightful dance between the sweet and bitter flavors. Mouthfeel is medium and the ABV of 9.4% is certainly noticeable in this beer but it is by no means unpleasant or predominate. The contrast of flavors make for a delightful sipping beer any time you want a quality strong drink. This is a very good beer, anyone who likes strong or complex beers will likely find this to be a good choice. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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July 20th, 2008 beckel
I have heard nothing but praise about beer from Anchor Brewing so i figured it was high time I gave some a try. Liberty Ale is an American pale ale out of San Fransisco, California clockig in at a pleasant 6% ABV. First brewed in 1975 to celebrate the bicentennial of the famous ride by Paul Revere. This lovely light orange beer has some intense carbonation, careful when pouring. Head is strong but also has some small champaign like bubbles. Smell is nice, somewhat pale but sweet citrus is also present.Tastes Mostly of lightly sweet pale malt, but there is also some nice bitterness. The balance is very nice and the yeast definitely helps makes this a good flavorful beer. Mouthfeel is pretty light. This is a darn good pale ale, flavors range from sweet to bitter to even a bit sour and balance out amazingly. A grand choice on a warm day or if you just prefer less hops but like a good beer with quality ingredients. I will definitely be picking up more Anchor beers. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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