Anchor Old Foghorn Ale

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

Bottle. Clear red/brown colour with medium creamy off-white mostly diminishing head. Malty aroma with caramel and alcohol. Sweet caramel flavor. Well balanced beer. Oily palate.

Dark and slightly muddy. Poured flat with no carbonation. Lingering sweetness and a great presence. One to be supped and apprciated.

Transparent chestnut brown, with creamy 1/2" head. Smells the way you would wish a barely wine to smell. Bouquet filled with fruit, apricot, candi malt and sherry. No hint of bitterness, unlike many American renditions that overdo the hops. Flavor is medium to full-bodied, fruity and full of apricot.

7oz bottle. Not sure the vintage but I’m guessing ’02 or ’03. Pours a murky oily brown with some amber highlights. Hops, toffee, caramel and alcohol on the nose. A fair amount of caramel and toffee on the palate balanced by some hops and a noticeable alcohol presence. I think there’s some chocolate and Grand Marnier-like orange in there too. Finishes fairly dry.

sour apples, brown sugar, pine pitch, campfire. clear mahogany with active but ephemeral head. theres a tang to the caramel, some flavor I associate with strong british beers, burnt sugar, lemon. less obviously hoppy than other west coast barleywines but slight imbalance forgiven for the malt complexity. sticky finish.

<<<RE-RATE 2/24/08>>>
12 oz bottle, brewed Jan 19 2007. Bottle code was 7JS for those who may care. Pour is ruby bronze, clear, with a nice tan head. Aroma of a little dust and almost metallic. Hops are there still, but pretty faded. Taste is still pretty osr to spot on - see previous reviews - though the metallic from the nose lingers in the taste a bit. Sweetness of malt is very honey, and a bit on the cloying side. Palate is still the perfect blend of weight and drinkability. Still good, but not sure it was improved. I personally preferred the fruit sweetness at 7 months to the honey at 13 months. 6,4,7,5,13 (3.5)

<<<ORIGINAL RATING 8/4/07 >>>
12 oz bottle, brewed Jan 19 2007. Purchased at Lukas KCMO. Chilled for about 30 minutes. Pour is ruby red and a bit of orange. I nice off-white tan head settles in pretty quickly. Aroma sweet (caramel) malt with a bit of citrus/floral in there as well. Taste is really fruity - apples, pears and some slightly toasted caramel as well. There is a nice bitter hoppiness to the middle and finish which rounds this brew out quite nicely. Even at this young age the alcohol is almost completely masked, though there is a hint of warmth in the aftertaste. Thank you Anchor. 7,4,8,5,15 (3.9)

Pours with a thick tan head that quickly subsides (likely due to the alcohol content.) The aroma is a heavenly earthy hop (maybe EKG?) with touches of carmel and sherry. The color is halfway between amber and black though not quite ruby. It’s definitely a sipping beer but there is no hotness or solvent you’d watch out for in such a big beer. The flavor is mellow malt and caramel reminiscent of the beautiful brown crust on a perfectly seared steak. The body is perfectly balanced between sweet malt and earthy hop with a touch of bitterness. This beer is easily on my shortlist of best beers on the planet.

Beautiful red amber body, huge beige head; Beautiful very flowery and malty nose a bit 1-dim; Soft carbonation, very soft texture, bitter a little harsh; Long bitter harsh finish, flowery malty simple aromas. Boring.