Anchor Old Foghorn Ale

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

Sampled at another monday night football tasting over at scottyp’s. Pours reddish brown. Sweet goodness. I like it. I approve.

Sampled at another monday night football tasting over at scottyp’s. Sampled blind with 6 others. All poured a clear amber red. Not really a standout, but does have more fruitiness than the others. Red cherry pie and sweet vanilla.

Pours a dark amber/light chestnut brown color with a thin white foamy head that immediately fades into nothingness with not trace of lacing. Strong alcohol aroma with a nice leathery malt presence as well as hints of dark fruit, cherry, pear strawberry and grape. I’m pleasantly surprised by the amount of fruit I’m picking up. Nice balanced with sweet alcohol and earthy malts. Pretty sweet with the fruit notes from the aroma coming into play. Nice hop presence which is severely lacking in many examples of this style. Hints of vanilla, caramel, cherry, grape and other light fruit with a slight alcohol warmth in the finish.

Slightly watery barleywine but what a flavor. Just the right amount of everything: flavor, bitterness, aftertaste and all the interesting mini flavors that barley wines have.

Bottle 355 ml 2005 vintage
Appearance: deep clear amber look, mid light rocky top, tanned sides.
Nose: thick blanket of malty sweetness. Dry alcohol to balance, straight with sense of being solid 7+
Flavor/Palate : Good, straight clean brew. Simple yet well made. Plenty of clean malts, boozy alcohol all together well paired. Solid Barley Wine.

From bottle cellared 8 months. Malt and alcohol on the nose with a hint of citris hops, Very well balanced, starts out smooth and malty rounds out to a nice bitterness stuck to the tongue. Very impressive.

Bought at a bar that was far to cold. Needed some warming and this was the right choice. A deep red orange color with a surprising amount of white head for such a still beer. Smell was of orange at first but gave way to a great malt and grain aroma. That malt was part of the taste but backed up by some hoppy spice and alcohol flavor. A good barley wine for how not overdone it is.

Sample from bottle at la Bière et Saveur 09.09.04 : Pour brown good lacing with a sparing head. This one is dense but still digestive. At first caramel take you then fallows molasses all well combines with great bitter finish. The body is full and carbonation is soft.