Anchor Humming Ale

Brewed by Anchor Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
San Francisco, California USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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On tap at In de Wildeman. Hazy, pale golden with a small head. Hoppy aroma and flavours, hints of hay. Very dry indeed. Refreshing and uncompromisingly, almost harshly, bitter.

Wow what a dissapointment. Three os us had this last night at the Flying Saucer in Ft Worth. Pours a light hay color, almost like a lager. The smell? Well i compared it to Testors model glue. ugggg, Two of us didnt even finish it. Probably the second worst beer ive tasted this year. The other was a store bought IPA that turned out to be 2.5 years old and way past its lifetime. This is not a beer i would drink agian, even for free!

On tap at Anchor Brewing Co. Gold transparent appearance, with little to no head. Head was fluffy for 30 seconds, but after that it is gone. Looks like a pale pager, not an APA. Slightly fruity aroma, but not much going on in the aroma. Not a very hoppy aroma. Light grass aroma as well. Grass flavor as well with some hop fruitiness. Bittering hop leaves a lasting bitterness that is pleasant. Boring grassy and slighty fruity hop flavor. Smooth palate, but nothing remarkable. Glad to have tried at the brewery. Decent bittering qualities, but not very nuances in terms of aroma and flavor.

Last of the keg on tap. Pours a hazy grayish straw color with a large creamy white head. Notes of earth, floral hops, nectarines, and citrus rind. Thinner mouthfeel, and feels pretty unbalanced. Hmm.

On tap at Beer Temple. ABV 6%. Hazy yellow colour, frothy rocky white head. Aroma of grassy and piny hops, some cardboard. Flavour is light malty, a bit sweet, but because the malt body is thin the hops are very dominant in an unpleasant way, very bitter, dry, metallic, a bit of cardboard. Became better after a few sips, but the malt base is too thin.

On tap at Beer Temple. Golden body with medium head. Nose of hops and citrus. Taste is more maltier, but sweet with grapefruit and citrus notes. Quite prickly texture, also in the finish. I quite liked this one.

Sampled at 1702, Tucson February 2009
This beer arrives from the tap with a lightly hazed, gold-copper hue. It is topped by a frothy, one-finger thick, off-white colored head that is half way decent coming from a draft beer and it even leaves some layered lacing patterns on the sides of my glass. The aroma is grassy with herbal hop notes and has an under-current of fruitiness to it (Meyer lemon, a slight melon note and a grassy, tart, grape like note).

The beer feels quite fizzy as it first hits my mouth, almost too much so, it is still quite quaffable though as there is just enough body to carry the aggressive hop character. The hops taste grassy, quite herbal, green and even have a touch of astringency to them in the finish. There is also quite a bit of bitterness her. The fruit hop character plays only a secondary role here with a lightly tart, melon like note, some grassy lime flavors and a tropical fruit like grape note being softly noticeable. There is just enough malt to note get in the way of the dominating hop character; a touch of firm, definitely cracker-like malt in the finish and just enough of a pale malt sweetness up front to not allow this beer to be overly dry; though, for a beer, this is definitely on the dry side.

This is a serviceable Pale Ale that is aggressively hopped. The Nelson Sauvin character seems wasted though; where is the expressive, interesting fruit character? I wonder if freshness is an issue here. This is still tasty, it is just not quite what I had hoped it would be.

The smell on this is atrocious. Smells like rotten fruit. Sadly, the flavor is similar although not as distgusting. Some grapefruit flavor w/ a piney finish. Dry palate. One and done.

From tap at SF Beer Week Celebrator Beer News Anniversary Party. Pours hazy yellow with a small white head, lasting with a nice lacing. Smooth hoppy aroma, Nelson Sauvin shines through. Smooth and fruity hops flavoure - very elegant. Dry finish. Nice one. Lovely. Easy.

Nelson Sauvin hopped, enjoyed on tap at Papago bar. A nice hoppiness, a medium mouthfeel. Yellow colour with good lacing. Drinkable.