Archive for the 'Anchor' category
Anchor Brewing “Our Special Ale” (Christmas Ale) 2008
I have not been in the big/boozy/thick/rich beer mood, so I have been avoiding the winter seasonal beers hitting the store shelves recently (since a fair majority of those beers tend to be big/boozy/thick/rich). With the first snow storm upon Boston and Christmas quickly approaching however, I thought I should delve into a “winter” beer.
For whatever reason the Anchor Brewing winter offering was proclaiming “Dave purchase me!”, so that is what I did and here I sit writing about it. This beer is actually in its 34th year of brewing, and its recipe has changed every one of those 34 years. If you want to check out how this beer has progressed, Ben reviewed the 2005 edition.
The beer pours a dark-rich brown with an off-white head that dissipates, in about a minute, to a very thin, even non-existent, covering. To get the full impact of the beer’s smell, I need to stick my nose deep inside the snifter glass. This allows me to receive the full blast of the holiday bouquet that is this beer. Ginger, allspice, cinnamon, caramel, liquorice and orange peel all make an appearance. All the smells mix well together, though some are a little harder to distinguish then others.
In the mouth the beer is surprisingly light, and a hint watery. The beer goes down quick and smooth. There is a nice toasted malt presence mid-tongue, with a spice bouquet finish. Much like the aroma, the spice finish is well mixed and not overpowering. If anything I notice a hint more ginger then any other aspect.
For someone not looking for a “winter” beer, this one was a pleasant surprise. It was quite light and easy to drink. If you do not like spiced beers, this probably will not suit you, but the spice is not all that overpowering. After a day of shoveling, this beer hit the spot for me.
Anchor Bock Beer
This is a beer that, frankly, I didn’t know existed. But, it just appeared on NC shelves recently, so I had to pick it up and see what it was all about. I’m sure you all either know about or have had the Anchor Steam beer which is, by all accounts, a major beer in the craft beer revolution. On top of that, it’s a good beer. So, while I never looked for anything else from Anchor, I was happy to see this.
The beer pours an extremely dark brown that only shows any light right around the edges of the glass. The head is fairly thin, but substantial, and carries a light caramel color down the glass. The aroma of this Bock is fairly big and nutty. There’s also a light sweetness that gives this beer, oddly enough, a slight peanut buttery aroma. In the mouth, this beer is pretty impressive. Again, I have to cite a peanut butter similarity here. It starts lightly sweet, but is quickly hit with a nutty blast around the middle of the tongue that carries all the way through the mouth. There isn’t a strong bitterness here, but I notice my mouth reacting as though there were. In other words, there’s a slight ‘pucker-factor’ around the middle of the mouth as the nutty flavor presents itself. It seems as though my mouth is slightly ahead of my tastebuds as the bitterness does cause me pucker a bit even though the bitterness is constantly moderated by the malty sweetness. The aftertaste is about the same, malty and nutty, and sticks around for 10-15 seconds before falling out. So, basically, this is a good beer. It isn’t simple, per se, but it is consistent. After that nutty blast at the middle of the mouth, the beer never really changes again. However, that consistent flavor is a good one, and an interesting combination of bitter and sweet that is never overbearing on any account. I’d say that Anchor did a strong job with the genre, and I love the goat on the label…
Anchor Holiday Beer 2005
This brew comes to us courtesy of Miller (the guy, not the brewing company), who happens to come across cases of this stuff at Lighthouse Beer & Wine in Wilmington. It seems they were a bit overstocked with last year’s holiday beer, and so you can walk out of there with a case of this goodness for a song. If you’re not into holiday beers, it might be a bit too much of a good thing. But, if you’re into a tasty dark holiday brew, then this could be a god-send.
This beer pours quite dark – more like a stout than a traditional Christmas beer. The aroma is quite heavy with ginger and some mild holiday spices. There even seems to be the slightest bit of pine. In the mouth, there is a weird transition from brown ale, to ginger goodness, to refined sweetness, to a malty-ginger melange on the back of the tongue that sticks around for the aftertaste. It is certainly a complicated beer, and it brings a number of flavors to the front as it traverses the tongue. To be honest, it’s hard to say if this is a fabulous beer or an over-crowded muck of flavors – it would take a more refined palate than mine to determine. Either way, I find it pretty tasty. Readers of the site might have noticed that I have taken a shining to ginger in my holiday beers this season, and I think that this aspect wins the beer beaucoup points with me. However, I feel that this brew also brings other positive aspects of a holiday brew, and it does so in appropriate doses to make a beer that is complicated without being overbearing. For these reasons, I’m giving this beer a thumbs up. I would’ve been curious to taste this when it were younger, though.
Anchor Summer Beer
If there’s one season whose beers I love, it’s summertime. Summer generally brings a host of crisp, airy wheat beers. The summer beer from Anchor is no exception. This is an interesting beer, as it considers itself a wheat beer, but it is actually a hybrid, using about 50% of it’s malts from malted wheat. Altogether, this makes a rather tasty beer. The pour is of a typical pilsner, maybe – temperate golden with a malt white head. The taste is good, exhibiting tastes of sweet citrus, zesty lemon rind, mild hops, and a metallic hint. This beer leaves behind a more substantial aftertaste than I usually except from this genre – a slight metal that clings to the top back of the mouth. Nevertheless, this is quite crisp and rather quenching. I enjoy most Anchor beers, including this one. While it isn’t the best summer ale I’ve had, I’m altogether pleased.
