Anchor Porter

Tasted after a long, and productive day. We went to the Mad Farmers Garden and bought heritage chickens! the rest of the day was spent writing my paper, making garbage chili and attending a bartender meeting at great river. Thanks to Josh Schipp for donating this to the blog!

Appearance: Robust frothy foamed head that dryly stands on itself. Large bubbles hold it up while the top remains fine and very soft looking. Color is brown, but basically black. No clarity at all and carbonation is visbly nonexistant.
Aroma: Mellow roasted smell with a mild chocolate and oddly stale. Quite a bit of fruitiness. Licorice presents itself at the very end of the nose. Kind of baked and a little bit of rye.
Taste: At the start, the beer is sweet at the foretaste with subtle chocolate. Midtaste brings a bit of a fruitiness, perhaps reminiscent of plums, even some blueberries. I can draw some notes of brown sugar. The finish resides with a dry, but still sweet flavor. However, there is a stale coffee element to this beer too which I guess fits the style, but is a bit deterring. Similarly, there is also a very apparent licorice spicing, along with vanilla. A bit of oak presides within.
Mouthfeel: When tasting initially, the beers foam was soft and unusually warm. Medium body with a very fine carbonation, that is soft, but hardly makes any addition to the beer. Very sticky one the lips and overall it finishes quite dry.
Overall Impression: This is an unusual porter (from what I've had) but it does incorporate the stale flavor that porters originally maintained. It had a rich chocolate and subtle roasted flavor.

Liberty Ale

Tasted midday following a quick caloric dose farm fresh olive oil fried eggs. Bought a six pack from Binny's in highland park while working there over break. Pint glass poured.

Appearance: A pale straw color with a minute touch of amber. Nicely structured white fluffy head that dissipates into a thicker coating along the surface of the beer. Sticky tuft white lacing along the sides. Some haziness about it, but enough to maintian complete transparency.
Aroma: Grassy and herbaceous with a buscuit malt undertone. Some lighter fruit characteristics contribute to the initial nose, but are finally masked by a tropical/earthy bitterness.
Taste: Some graininess to start, but graduates into a nice zesty bitterness. Apricots could be picked out of the undertoned malt as well as the light toasted and biscuit barley malt. The mid-taste is my favorite part where it holds the inbetween (the best of both worlds) of malt and finishing hops. Some grapefruit zest is left to the aftertaste, which is quite drawn out. I could easily tell this is a higher end pale ale from the complexity of the malt and hop tastes compared to say..Kirklands generic Pale Ale. Again pine flavors begin to develop the deeper one gets into the glass.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, yet highly drinkable and refreshing. Carbonation isn't too much and only makes it's final say as the beer washes over the back of the tongue, with a mediocre spike. Chewy may be a word to put to the texture, but other than that it is a crisp beer.
Overall Impression: Complex and drinkable with a wealth of all sweet and bitter characteristics. The hops say both bittering and C's while the malt holds a foundation to baance against the alpha acids. In plain terms, this is a bitter beer with a lot of flavor and integral complexity if you choose to note it or just drink through it.

Anchor Small Beer

Another easy evening tasting, while going for the low alcohol. Bought this beer (finally) from Binny's while working there over Christmas break.

Appearance: A robust amber with an aggressive looking carbonation and a strong fizzy white head that starts with peaks and dissipates to a thick foamed film. Looks quite tasty. Incredible layered lacing.

Aroma: Mostly pungent with a brief grassy bitterness. I find little malt sweetness to this beer, and mostly the funk of a lager.

Taste: The flavor is predominantly bitter with a a grassy finish and an American lagered profile to it. Sweetness is negligible. I'd say it tastes extremely similar to a British or English bitter that fornucated with a cheap American lager.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and well carbonated. The bitterness makes for a refreshing beer, and that's about it. Finishes dry and crisp with a resinous feel. Medium body.
Overall Impression: This beer is extremely light and drinkable. For some reason though, the fact that knowing this beer is only 3.3% and still able to boast the hop profile it does makes me give credit to the beer. I'm lately in a phase of taking a liking to the lower alcohol beers and this really achieves that feat. It definitley missed the sweetness, but still, its the refreshing drinkability of this beer that earns it the most points.

Anchor Steam Beer

This was part of the first batch of beer I bought with my workers discount from Binny's. I had heard so much about this beer but never had a chance to try it. After seeing so many people buy it, I had no choice but to buy,try, and let my viewers know what I thought.

Appearance: A rich amber copper color that truly glows. Clarity is absolutely optimal with a persistent carbonation rapidly rising to the surface. A cream white head that is quite dense and well sustained at a half fingers depth as it floats on the surface.
Aroma: Mild malt aroma with a toasted nutty smell reminiscent of dry almond husk. A dry bitterness complements this in the form of dry floral hops and some smoky notes. Caramel and dark fruit perhaps reveal themselves in combination
Taste: Earthy but flavorful. A dry toasted bread malt finish that is quite potent. I enjoy this toasted malty finish because both the sweet foretaste and the finish are complementary of each other. What starts of sweet toasted malt and nuts, ends in a bitter character that comes with any toasted flavor. Both the sweetness and bitterness are of the same toasted taste. A lagered flavor is prominent throughout. There is some fruitiness but I find it to take a background behind some smoky elements of this beer. Finally, the smoky, earthy toasted malt bitterness remains on the palate after the beer is flushed down.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and creamy in the back of the throat. a brief spike on the tongue, but that is negligible. A prolonged dry aftertaste remains on the tongue. Goes down nicely and is extremely refreshing.
Overall Impression: Interesting and very drinkable. I haven't really tasted a steam beer before. This beer exhibited characteristics that are hard to replicate in any beer. I really enjoyed the full flavor of toast in this beer. This beer really makes me respect San Fransisco beer, and I'll certainly be trying more Anchor beer soon, perhaps Humming or their porter.