Anchor Bock

Anchor Bock Beer (Season Limited), 5.50 % ABV, 12 oz

Color: The beer pours an extremely frothy, silky and textile head; it must have been awhile since I’ve had a LAGER (make no mistake, this is a lager). It is milk-chocolate colored, and the beer resembles a brown ale but just a tad darker.

Tasting Notes: On the nose, Anchor brewery’s distinct fresh yeast flavors come barging through, coupled with generous, citrusy-hops, thick malt and raisin-bread like sweetness, as well as some decadent plum. Overall the nose reminds me of a less assertive Ommegang abbey ale (and I didn’t particularly like it back then, perhaps I’m not knowledgeable enough in Belgian style ales). Despite the multifaceted and almost flamboyant aromas, on the palate, this bock develops the aforementioned flavors in a very integrated, well-knit manner. The thick, slightly roasted yet refreshing malt is there, but not as prominent as a brown ale; sweetness and slight bitterness balance each other out nimbly, though hop bitterness is minimal. The body is exceptionally smooth, being a lager. The fruity flavors are less prominent when drank, but a grape/raisin sweetness gives the overall impression of this bock as wine-like, and the combination of flavors give rise to a dairy-like pungency. The finish is mid-long, with malt, wine and cheese reverberating. Very interesting, very idiosyncratic.

Comment: The more one explores a brewery/distillery’s products, the more one gets closer to shaping an idea (however subjective) of a brewery/distillery profile, or in blunter terms, “style”. For whiskies it was easy, since I’ve gotten a-plenty of training and burnt bundles of cash on them already: say, Laphroaig’s iodine, Ardbeg’s earthy peat, the honey tones of The Balvenie, George Dickel’s vitamin-c tablets, Talisker’s pepper and Highland Park’s heather etc. Beer for me is much more difficult. Personally I notice that flavors stay shorter on one’s palate, they dissipate rapidly, and poses a much larger challenge. However, after eight months of cutting teeth, I can begin to claim a few characteristics concerning my favorite breweries. For example, after getting familiar with three of their beers, I can point out that a conspicuous, fresh yeast flavor is one of Anchor’s definitive traits, without a doubt. To me at least, the brews by Anchor generally emit a bready, tempting-one-to-bite in deliciousness. This seasonal bock, first brewed only in 2005, is highly interesting, with its malt-wine-and-cheese impression. Perhaps it’s the goat on their label playing psychological tricks on me (reminds me of Taiwan’s goat-milk powder whose brand name I cannot recall), but one can never know. One thing I know is that I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Anchor.

3/23/09

Anchor Porter

Anchor Porter, 5.60 % ABV, 12 oz

Color: This porter forms an ivory/coffee colored head, which is bubbly, delicate and creamy, with a good retention. Shade-wise it is one of the darkest porters I’ve seen: solid ebony that only shows a hint of brown when passed through strong light.

Tasting Notes: The nose however, is its greatest strength. One can immediately tell it apart from other porters/stouts by its incredibly bready and yeasty aroma, coupled with hints of integrated coffee and chocolate. A delicious start. On the palette the Anchor shows assertiveness, as gargantuan waves of chocolate and coffee crash in, it is underpinned by solid roasted malt/bread flavors. Although hop bitterness can be detected, citrus/fruit hop notes are nonexistent, differing greatly from Cooperstown’s Benchwarmer porter. The body is highly carbonated thus not particularly silky, but its smoothness and creaminess easily envelope the whole tongue, bearing similarity with the steam beer. The beer finishes crisply with a slight sweetness.

Comment: Let me be blunt: this is a HUGE porter. It tastes utterly unapologetic, direct and not really concerned with subtlety (of course it’s incredibly sublime compared to say, a Bud Lite). As much praise I would like to give the bottled version, it pales in comparison with its tap brethren. On President Obama’s inauguration day (most people who held Bush in low regard probably never addressed him as “president” in their daily conversation. See, I didn’t even call him EX-PRESIDENT!) I had the fortune of having a tap-poured pint of Anchor Porter to toast to a (hopefully) nation’s new beginning with Brendan and Theresa. The amount of bready/yeasty smells emanating from that pint must’ve been at least twice as strong then the bottled porter. For dark beer fans, this is a must try!

2/09/09

Anchor Steam Beer

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco CA

Anchor Steam Beer, 4.9% ABV, 12 oz

Color: The beer is highly carbonated, and forms a thick, bubbly head if poured quickly (properly). The color is a solid amber/orange, akin to ice tea, much darker than an average lager.

Tasting Notes: Nose emits a pleasant string of apples, malt and hops, intertwining tightly to form a coherent, inviting yet somewhat demure impression. Body is medium to full, simultaneously smooth yet volatile and crisp. On the palate, apple is upfront in the nose, while a slightly metallic coolness accompanies the malt & biscuit flavors. There is an instant where these flavors combine to show outdoorsy roughness – a fleeting moment of retrospection – into the olden, adventurous days of the Frontier where “steam beer” was brewed (Jack London, anybody?). The beer finishes with gentle citrus notes and slight hop bitterness. The balance is truly quite astounding. The sweet and the bitter waltz each other into perfect harmony.

Comment: A legendary microbrew product, Anchor steam won the praise of my visiting aunt and uncle, whose son is living and working in Germany (Binghamton’s scarce choice in activities didn’t seem to affect them much). It is perhaps the most accessible, well-rounded yet flavor-packed beer I’ve come upon so far; its tight combination of flavors and its roundness makes it highly memorable. Again, I write these words reminiscing the past week I had, not without connotations of loneliness. My aunt is a great cook – she made me a good amount of comfort food such as dumplings, rice noodles and meatballs, all which I am not knowledgeable in cooking. My uncle (her husband) is of Sichuan descent, a hearty, somewhat fiery yet amiable man, who prefers a spoonful of hot sauce to anything he eats (and he eats quite…loud). Both of them add up to an astounding amount of noise and warmth in this spacey, cold room, which only two days after their departure, I dearly miss already. Whenever I drink an Anchor Steam again, either from bottle or tap, their days spent here are surely to arise from the recesses of my mind.

10/20/08