Tag: Anchor Brewing

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Holiday Ale Review – Christmas Ale from Anchor


The 2016 recipe seems more spice forward than the past couple of years. I am catching more rye notes as well as more of the spruce/tree aroma and bite. I’m tasting a bit of clove as well. The malt seems to be more of a burnt roast. Overall, more hearty this year.

Of course part of the allure of the beer is the tree on the label, discussed as much, if not more than the recipe. Here is the 411 on the 2016 label: “Our tree for 2016 is the “1,000 Mile Tree” or the lone pine found during westbound construction of the transcontinental railroad. Discovered in 1869, it was a lone pine amidst a vast and desolate landscape. The tree on this year’s label was hand-drawn by Bay Area artist James Stitt, who has been creating Anchor’s Christmas Ale labels since 1975. His charming illustration of the 1,000 Mile Tree includes a person at the top of the tree with a mug of beer, honoring an old legend that railway passengers sometimes attempted to climb the tree.”

You can see all 42 of the Christmas “trees” in the collection right HERE.

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Go West

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Since, Fritz Maytag left the building the product line for Anchor Brewing has been slowly expanded and another IPA joins the group in both bottles and cans with the coming introduction of the dry hopped Go West! (not the band from the 80’s) Looks to join that citrus/tropical group of IPA which is more and more my preferred sub-style.

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Anchor Merry Christmas – Happy New Year Vertical Tasting

For the past couple of years, I have raided the cellar for Anchor Brewing’s Merry Christmas – Happy New Year to taste test the changes in each year’s beers.
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Here is how this year’s vertical stacks up:
2012 – Cider aroma. Cider taste as well. Back end is not good. Some weird flavor notes. It is well past its prime.

2013 – Sawdust hoppy aroma. Prevalent hops here which is surprising. Still good fizz to it. Like an India red ale almost. A little spice as well. Some cola notes as well.

2014 – This year was the outlier with a sweet aroma. Almost milk chocolate. Cinnamon too as it warms up. The most Christmas-y of the bunch.

2015 – Malt and fruity. Closer to the 12 & 13. It is the lightest of the group. Some pine notes.

2013 is the clear winner with 2014 coming in second. 2015 is a distant third and 2012 is a DQ for being too old.

For a refresher, here are my posts from last year covering these same vintages. Check HERE For the older years and HERE for 2014.
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12oz Barrel

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Anchor Barrel Ale, the blend of four different Anchor beers, aged separately in Old Potrero Rye Whiskey barrels then blended together is getting the Argonaut Collection packaging. Which means, we can get this very special ale in 12oz bottles.

Which means, you don’t have to share a bottle because it is too big and you would feel like a glutton. It also means that you may find it a bit easier than in the past. I have had it once in distant memory and will be looking for it now that I feel that I can actually find it.

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A new Honorific

Screen Shot 2015-08-02 at 12.24.57 PM Anchor Brewing is paying tribute to Fritz Maytag on the labels for their Barrel Ale and they are also paying tribute to their own distilling efforts as well since this beer is aged in their own Anchor Distilling Old Potrero Rye Whiskey barrels as well as on their staves.  You will see this beer on draft and in 12 oz bottles in the future.

 

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Featured Review – Summer Wheat from Anchor

For our next canned beer we head back to Anchor Brewing and their Summer Wheat. Which pours a little darker than I expected it to. More orange than the yellow that I was looking for.

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The taste is also a bit heavier than my palate was ready for afte a day of work crunching numbers. There is a lime and bread mixture to the aroma which is more in line with my wheat beer definition. That lime note is the main push of this beer, flavor-wise as well. Like a laser of citrus that flares and dies.

It is not bad but it is more abrupt than I would like and doesn’t have some of the refreshing qualities of other lighter beers.

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Featured Review – Flying Cloud Stout from Anchor

I am splitting the featured beer reviews in two.  Anchor and Base Camp will alternate through May.  And we start on the Flying Cloud from Anchor Brewing.

There is a gorgeous dark brown head on this beer. One of the darkest I have seen. It fades away all too quickly and the glass is filled with an inky black export offering.

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The taste is very full and thick. Bitterness. Coffee dreg bitterness is first to announce itself followed by a slight hint of milk chocolate. I can’t believe no coffee was added to this beer because it has the hallmarks of a coffee porter. There is also a bit of burnt notes in the mix as well.

This would be a morning beer substitute to go with eggs and bacon and a hearty breakfast.

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In the Tap Lines for May 2015

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We are now moving toward the summer, silly season of festivals here in Los Angeles.  Events will be held every weekend from here on out.  Angel City first weekend, then Smog City the next (see below) and then Eagle Rock (again, see below) and that is only the tip of the iceberg.  Plus a special Up from the Cellar re-visit.

~ e-visits to three breweries from new-ish brewers on the East Coast from Maine to Mass.
~ special reviews of beers from Base Camp of Portland Oregon and Anchor of SF
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ Beer-centric podcast review, goes scientific with Gastropod
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 99 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, this month it is Localising Mild

Here are two events to get your May started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) May 9th – Smog City Anniversary
2) May 17th – Session Fest at Eagle Rock Brewery

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Anchor in Cargo

The Yard is a pop-up food and retail village constructed of repurposed shipping containers that will include an Anchor Steam beer garden. You could call it an appetizer before they open their second brewing facility nearby.

Oh how L.A. could use a few pop-up / creative / non-traditional taprooms around town like the Yard at Mission Rock in San Francisco. Maybe one of the (possible, maybe) new NFL teams in Inglewood or Carson could take a page out of the San Francisco Giants playbook.

Or find a central location near a Metro stop and have a rotating L.A. County Brewers Guild member pouring alongside a food truck specifically chosen to pair with the food. If I am tossing out maybes, the updated Union Station might be a great spot to do it.

And a little more Anchor news: According to the brewery, the future “facility will quadruple Anchor’s annual brewing capacity and feature production facilities for brewing, distilling, packaging, storing, and shipping; and a restaurant, museum and educational facility in the headhouse of Pier 48.”