Anchor Old Foghorn Ale

Brewed by Anchor Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
San Francisco, California USA

bottle poured into a snifter, nice looking brownish red in color with minimal carbination and just about no movement in the beer. smell is lightly alcohol, orange peel, raisin, spices, and some lingering hops. the taste is interesting, some fruity hops, definite malt backbone, has some raisin and fig flavors, and comes across pretty smooth. not too much sweetness in this one(where some others go wrong in my eyes), some dryness and yeast in the finish, really all goes well together. as others have said as well, starts off like a port and ends totally different with hops and spices, very good brew for sure.

Yeast and hoppy nose. Light body. Pours clear amber. Very hopped but somewaht unbalanced. Alcohol creeps in too much for my liking. More of a West Coast ale than a barley wine. Just ok in my book.

From a bottle into a wine glass. Pours a beautiful dark, ruby red color. Light, dissipating head with minimal lacing. Aroma of raisins, and slight alcohol. After about 20 minutes the aroma was cinnamon, sort of a cinnamon raisin. The taste was sweet raisins with spice. Very smooth, with a pleasantly spicy finish. Alcohol was very well hidden. This was one of the best beers I have ever tasted, also my first Barleywine. Delicous, but dangerous because it drank so easily.

9/26/07 From the bottle. Aroma is Alcoholic, slightly hoppy fruit forward, followed by tartness, citrus, raisins and a strong caramel tone. Appearance is clear dark copper with a moderate off-white head. Flavor is sweet dark fruity malt forward with a solid hop flavor and low bittering that becomes stronger in the earthy finish. Well balanced and slightly alcoholic. Mouthfeel is medium/full bodied with a low carb texture and good warmth. Overall, very complex, with great hop integration.

Smells of flowers, fruit, and sugar. Pours a nice rich amber color with a foamy head. Tastes sweet with hops herbs spices and malt. Really good.

Bottle. Pours very deep red. Fast reducing off white head. Sweet, hoppy, toffee aroma with dark fruit, malty taste. Slightly dry finish.

The pour reveals a beautiful slightly hazed, dark ruby colour with a decent tan head that diminishes entirely after a minute or two. The nose is a slightly vinous toffee sweetness with loads of dried fruits, doughy bread, some muted citric hops and some peppery spice. This really didn’t smell as alcoholic as I expected from a high alcohol content barley wine. The flavour begins port-like with bready malts and sweet dried fruit. These initial flavours dissapear quickly and transiton into a hoppy grapefruit citrus and peppery spice end point with a solid sweet malt backbone the whole way through. The carbonation was hardly soft, as advertised. The mouthfeel instead was tingly and mildly effevescent. More massaging than abrassive though. The palate was medium and sticky with a medium duration. Perfect for a barley wine. Drying, almost chalky finish.

7oz bottle, cellared 2003-2004. Aroma is fantastic. Notes of tawny port, nutty spicy malts, sweet dried fruits like raisin and prunes, alcohol, and very light citrus hops. Hazy dark red orange hue with a small mostly diminishing off-white head that left fair lacing. Flavor is very port like. Moderately sweet with an average duration. The smell was so big I thought this was going to be a really thick and intense brew but the body is medium-full and watery flat. A little alcohol but extremely well hidden. I really liked the port character to this brew and how easy it was to drink. Out of all the brews I’ve tasted this one would be the best beer with a cigar. Very happy I found this little guy. Must get more before their gone.