Anchor Porter

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

Rich and satisfying. Sweetish black coffee is what springs to my mind. Very nice.

Bottled. Black beer with a nice off-white head which is fairly long lasting. The aroma is bitter chocloate, and the taste is also domnated by chocolate, almost to be point of being overpowering. A nice drink but needs some balancing.Score 3.7
Subsequent rating scored 3.8. Average unaltered

Dark brown colour almost black, with a tan head. Roasted aroma of coffee and hops, some chocolate too. Taste of chocolate and roasted malt, some coffee flavor too. Nice mouthfeel with a little bitterness.

Pours dark black, with tan head. Aroma is of coffee, chocolate, slightly nutty, and roast malt. Very smooth flavor and finish, with hints of chocolate, coffee, prunes, and slight almonds. A delicious, very complex porter.

Black with an off-white lasting head. Malt and molasses in the aroma. Malty flavour with a good bitteress.

Deep black, with moka head. Nice vanilla chocolate aroma. Intense roasted malt with some nutty bitterness, slight lactic acid taste, creamy mouthfeel, with chocolate lingering for a long time. Splendid.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is lightly malty (chocolate, roasted grain), lightly hoppy (pine), with a note of fennel/anise seed. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Is it just me or has this gotten more sour and simple of late?

July 2001: Did a Porter session and sampled this after McNeills. Not disappointed with this great brew, probably 5 years since I’ve last had it. Wonderful smoky/sweet/popcorn (yeah, that’s what I get) aroma followed by incredibly well-balanced robust/sweet flavor. Probably the best American porter I’ve had. Now, if only I could get the barley wine around here....8/5/10/5/19 4.7

June 2005: yet another beer I rated incredibly high in my first year on RB that I will proceed to trash now...no, just kidding. The beer pours an incredibly well-laced, thick dark-headed coal black, just beautiful...lovely cocoa nose with small hints of buttery caramel and popcorn, hmm was I spot on 4 years ago?...vanilla and a tiny hint of orange as well...flavor is outstanding, the velvety moutfeel supporting creamy vanilla-chocolate, sort of "3 Musketeers" bar nougat goodness, but with some acerbic, lightly sour cherries and dark roast coffee giving some bite...compulsively drinkable, exquisitely balanced, still one of the very best porters ever and worth the extremely high grade I gave it when young and impressionable.