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Monthly Archives: March 2011

Review of Anchor Porter

Today I’m going to review one of my all time favorite beers. The lovely Anchor Porter from the Anchor Brewing Company out of San Francisco, California.

First, I’m going to give you the brewers description as taken from their website at anchorbrewing.com.

Anchor Porter is a unique dark brew, which was introduced by Anchor in the early 1970’s. Anchor Porter, like all of Anchor Brewing Company’s products, is brewed with only natural ingredients. Specially roasted dark malts are used, along with a top-fermenting yeast. The brew is hopped at a very high rate, and is naturally carbonated to produce an intensely rich flavor and thick creamy head. The rich flavor of Anchor Porter has earned this delicious and unique brew a worldwide reputation for outstanding quality. We use specially roasted malts, a top-fermenting yeast, and only fresh whole hops, which are added liberally. All this combines to produce a rich and intense flavor with subtle notes of chocolate, toffee and coffee.

This 12 oz. bottle clocks in at 5.6% ABV.

As you can see from the picture the beer poured a full, lush, creamy, cream colored head. The color is almost pitch black. Only the faintest dark red/ruby highlights around the edges. This brew looks outstanding in the glass. The head is really sticking around and it leaves a copious amount of lacing behind after each sip.

A rich chocolate and coffee malt comes to the forefront of the nose. The aroma is also evoking a roasted and smokey note that is very delightful.

The taste is very similar to the smell by recalling the chocolate and coffee. It’s not overly sweet, but it has just enough sweetness for a teasing. The smokey flavor adds delight by appearing in a delicate way in the end.

The mouthfeel is medium to full, chewy and very smooth. Very creamy also. The coating of the tongue and throat is very delightful as the flavor hangs around for a great long while.

I really, really like this brew. I have had several Porters over the last few years and this one has to be near the top of ones I have tried thus far. It’s perfect for those late Autumn and Winter days and evenings. It’s easily drinkable and it’s a brew that I will have to visit every year at some point or another. I want to thank Anchor for brewing this tasty beer.

Score: 4.5 out of 5.
Grade: A

My Introduction Into The Craft Beer World

31 Mar

I love craft beer. That’s really all there is to it. I love a great looking, great tasting, hand crafted beer. It’s a work of art. It’s a spectacular way to reward myself after a hard day’s work. A way to enjoy the company of friends. A great way to relax while watching the evenings ballgame or when manning the charcoal grill. To just sip on when enjoying a good book or watching a movie. A beer is, simply, the best “long drink” in the world.

In this blog, I hope to review beers that I have sampled and to give you insight as to why I like them or why I find them interesting. Some are popular brews that many of you have tried numerous times before and some may be more obscure. Either way, I will review to the best of my ability and I promise to give each a fair shake regardless of preference. I will review in regards to each brewers intent on how the beer is to be presented and the relative nature of the style. I’m still relatively new to the craft beer world, having only been tasting for about 3 1/2 years, so I still have many to try and much to learn with each new gulp. With that being said, I would like to give you a brief history as to how I became obsessed with this hobby.

I, like most, was naive when it came to “good” beer. I only drank the “macros”, which consisted of Bud/Miller/Coors. I would probably still be drinking those type of brews had it not been for a small leap I took when visiting a micro brewery.

I happened to be in Louisville, KY for a conference I was attending for work. After the conference I went out for a bite to eat. I walked into the Bluegrass Brewing Co. restaurant and brewery on 4th street. I wanted to have a beer, but much to my surprise they did not have my usual Coors Light on tap. The bartender handed me a tap list of beers. I saw words like: Porter, APA and Stout. I was clueless. I tried to act cool, as to not alert him to my ignorance, and said, “Give me that Summer Wheat there.” He pulled the tap handle and proceeded to pour a cloudy, golden colored beer. I thought, this will be ok. It looks similar to a Coors. He plopped it down in front of me and I took my first sip of craft beer…… and I hated it!!!! My palate was in a proverbial state of shock. I had to choke down the first one. When I finished, he asked, “Do you want another?” I timidly said, “Yes” for some reason. He slid the second one down the bar and as I brought it to my lips and took a sip….. it tasted much better. “Ok!”, I thought, “This is more like it.” After the second one went down much easier, I wanted another. It tasted even better!!! Wow. I never knew that beer was supposed to have character. After the third one, I was done, but man, that was some tasty stuff after I got used to it. As I look back on it now, it was a great gateway beer for an introduction to the craft beer world. It was light, low in ABV and not very robust (I have had it since and it’s mostly average).

I went back home a couple of days later and after a few weeks I found myself craving one of those “different” brews. Where could I find one? I live in a dry county, so it wasn’t like I could just drive to the corner store. The next time I was by a liquor store I saw a 6 pack of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and decided to pick it up. It was the same scenario. I choked the first one down and they gradually got better the more I sampled. One thing I specifically noticed was that it tasted much different than the Wheat beer. “Do all beers taste different?”, I thought. I had never paid any attention one way or the other.

Not long after that experience I had a friend give me a Coors Light at a cookout. I took a sip and found that it had absolutely no taste or character whatsoever. Well, that was it. No more of this stuff for me. I want flavor in my beer. Since then, I have never looked back. I had to try more and more different styles to see what each tasted like. Some I’ve liked, some I haven’t. All I know is that I had a blast experimenting with each, and still do.

For my reviews I am going to judge based on appearance, smell (aroma), taste, mouthfeel and drinkability.

My scoring system will be on a scale of 0-5 with 5 being the top of the line and 0 basically being undrinkable.

Please feel free to comment on the blogs. I’m very open to criticism. It’s still a learning process for me.

In the next post, I will start my reviews with one of my favorite beers. Anchor Porter.

Hope you enjoy reading.