Look: Reddish oak color with a short-lasting lacy tan head
Taste: Sharp initially with spices and carbonation throughout
Conclusion: Anchor Brewing has been going since 1876 in San Francisco. Their Anchor Steam is a delicious light ale. I was enticed into buying this one immediately but thought it strange for a brew dubbed a barley wine to have only 8.8% alcohol.
The taste is initially sharp but gives way to hearty barley and spices. It finishes with a warming prune and thick nutty malt finish.
The dry-hopping adds offsets the alcohol and makes the lasting flavor pleasant and non-offensive.
As I sipped I could imagine myself in the soupy fog of the San Francisco bay, cruising on a tugboat with an Old Foghorn in hand. I was curious about the "low" alcohol content for a barley wine but what this brew lacks in alcoholic power it makes up for in robust and amazingly delicious flavor. It has a warming, almost rum-like, quality to it, and I'd love to have this one on a cold winter day by a fire. Just a spectacular barley wine, that I enjoyed thoroughly.
9 Brews!
**After a talk with my friend, we decided to give this brew a perfect 10. Its just that good.**
1 comment:
It packed a punch, but was full of flavor, not too sweet like some barley wines, slight hoppy kick, but mostly barley sweetness and it put me to bed by 10:30. Believe me when I say, I haven’t slept that good in weeks!
Initially, this beer was given a 9, and my brew compatriot kept raving about it, so I asked for a bottle to see what the hype was all about. This beer is no joke! Truly one of the best barley wines I’ve tasted to date. Marvelous, simply marvelous.
After a short discussion with my fellow brew-reviewer, we had to go back and up the review points to a 10. He had found the perfect barley wine.
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