Bluegrass Anvil Steam

Brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company
Style: California Common
Louisville, Kentucky USA

Draft at the brewpub (4th St location). 5.2% AbV, 36 IBU’s. Poured a clear medium orange color. Head was white and left some decent lace behind. Aroma was of resiny/flowery hops. The flavor was the same with any malt flavor hiding in the background. There was moderate to assertive hop bitterness of about 7 out of 10.

Draft at brewpub. Poured dark amber with an average frothy white head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Moderate toasted malty and sour citrus aroma. Medium body with soft carbonation. Medium bitter flavor with a medium smooth bitter finish of moderate duration.

Draught during my Great Lakes region brew tour. Heady, amber pour. Anvil Steam has a mild grapefruity aroma with thin sugar. The hops are semi-chalky in the mouth. Notes of crisp pine and lemon are here. Pretty doughy flavor beneath. Nothing really special here.

On draught at BBC Brewpub on the way back from the Great Lakes adventure with NachlamSie. Poured a reddish amber color, with a thin white head. Aroma was nutty caramel and malts, with some hoppiness. This was my first divulge into California Common territory, but I found it to be much like a mild red ale, with beefed up floral hops. Good session beer, although a bit unbalanced.

On draft at BBC Shelbyville. - Pours bright ruby/amber with a thin mostly receding light tan head. Aroma of grapefruit, sweet citrus, toffee, and bready toasted malts. Taste is citric with grapefruit, has a nice floral hoppiness in the mouthfeel. Medium/full bodied, resinous with lively carbonation. Much better than the August 2005 version.

Grapefruit and pine aroma. Not enough subtle malt in the body. Burst of hoppiness that crept down my throat. Smelled increasingly skunky as warmed. Should be classified as something else.

Draft - amberish body with a thin, quickly disappearing off white head. Little aroma. Maybe a little malt. Odd, exepected flavor. More hops than I expect in a California Common and almost a tinge of Euro-funk. Not too crazy about this one.