Anchor Bock Beer

Bottle at RBSG Grand Tasting, July 2006. Very dark brick red/ruby colour. Caramel malts and roasty goings-on in the aroma. Toffee, caramel and liquorice on the palate. Touches of chocolate and plummy fruit too. Distinctly sweet. Nice enough, but struggled to make too much of an impression amongst the stellar line up on offer on the day.

(12oz bottle) Purchased at Spinnakers Ale Merchant for an insanely cheap $2.65. Pours a thin, lasting brown head with a deep, near opaque, reddish-brown body. Nose of strong caramel malt and bourbon residue. Flavour is strong of a smokey gouda, blackberries and slight coffee ground with an oily texture. Its a well rounded and very drinkable beer.

Sampled multiple times at the brewery during my tour of the place, 12sep2006.

Quite dark, turned sanguine red when exposed to the light. Very nice sustained half inch of head.
Interesting caramel malts, and as hoppy as a Bock can be.
Plenty of malt body and well dosed carbonation, it does have a bit of a vegetal taste to it, but I didn’t really see it as such a bad thing. Kind of like bitter rhubarb, and the malt sweetness tames the harshness of it. But it’s the finish that I didn’t like, as it was ashy, something I don’t like at all, at least not at this level.

Pours a five finger tan head that fades slowly leaving some lace. Opaque black/brown color. Light carbonation and medium-heavy bodied. Molasses nose. Starts with a roasted chocolate/burnt oak flavor, finish is dry bitter chocolate. Really this is a bock with balls. $1.55 for a 12oz bottle from Liquid Solutions Tigard, Or.

Bottle. Large tan head that was mostly lasting, sparse lacing, transparent, fizzy carbonation, and a reddish brown hue. Malty, hoppy, roasty, sweet, and nutty nose. Flavor was sweet, toffee, malty and somewhat tangy. Smooth, thin palate. Light body. A very easy drinking brew.

Pours dark with a small head.Has a roasted malt flavor at the beginning.The finish had a slight bitterness.

I rated this a long time ago but the rating dissapeared. Hmmm. Original SF only release: Body is black, some ruby on the edges with a tan head. Aroma is chocolate, raisen, nice and roasty with a note of smoke. Taste is chocolate malts, with a bit of a malt sweetness, the hops that used to be more present have faded a bit.

Bottle: Pours to a mostly clear (when held to a light) medium brown colored body that shines with ruby highlights. Atop sits a medium, light brownish tan head that fades to a medium, rocky ring around the outside of the glass. The aroma shows a slight nuttiness, though it’s more of a darker, richer, more malty nuttiness than say a brown ale would be. There’s also a pleasing mild roast scent, biscuit notes, and hints of some plums, carrots, or maybe beats - this smell is not the same as what one would expect from DMS, rather it seems to be coming from the house character of anchor’s brews (yeast, and I believe unique fermentation tanks?) combined with the choice of malt of hops here. As it warms, a slight pine scent shows itself. The taste shows a small hit of bitterness and pine-like hops right off the bat, but that’s quickly overcome by grapes, caramel, rich medium malt syrup flavors, caramelized apples, cinnamon-infused, unsweetened chocolate, hints of light allspice, plenty of malt flavors to pick through here. Medium bodied, medium carbonated, this actually feels almost tart in the mouth and seems to be fairly dry overall. It does seem to be a little too bitter for what I’d like in a Bock, but that’s really nitpicking for a well-brewed beer.