Anchor Old Foghorn Ale

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

Serve in Snifter

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A magnificent Barley Wine

Old Foghorn pours to a beautiful, bright, garnet color with a slight tan head, and a very soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is phenomenal. Aromas of sweet malt, plums, fresh bread, and waves of peppery alcoholic strength flood the nose. The palate is rich and complex, just layers of flavors. Sweet malt, fresh bread, estery fruit flavors of plum, a touch of oak, and a touch of vanilla coat the tongue. The body is nice and hefty, viscous and syrupy. This beer finishes with more malt flavors up front, then is balanced with good hop presence. The finish is a warming one as well, this beer matches the strength of wine and clocks in at about 10% abv. This beer is one of the finest barleywines on the market today. This is a classic and it showcases the wonders of the juice of the barley. Here is a beer that a wine lover can appreciate. The only knock on Old Foghorn for me is the price. This beer is marketed in 7 oz nip bottles and is a bit pricey. I say that because I have had other barleywine of equal quality that are less expensive, and sold in 12 oz bottles. That being said, Old Foghorn is a beer that a beer lover and a wine lover really must try. This beer is meant to be sipped and savored like a fine port or brandy. I would not recommend matching this with food, it is a perfect night cap.

Reddish brown colour, small head. Smooth, hoppy toffee-aroma. Thick sweet mouth-feel. Hoppy, oily, oaky complex flavour with notes of liquorice and oranges. Excellent beer, the bottles are too small!

Huge barley wine. Soft, oily and sweet. Hints of citrus and apricot.Malty and rich with a prefume finish.

1JJ (January 2001) bottling date; aww shucks gotta try it -- $56 dollars and a few of these glorious 7 oz. bombs later, pure heaven. In a small snifter, warm (~68oF), there was a huge and very pleasant bouquet. Although we were a full 18 months past bottling, the malt was huge and the hop profile sublime. Just a tiny amount of sweetness gave the drinking experience of a fine port. It’s my understanding that this brew has been reformulated, upping my samples 8.8% abv to about 11%. Now I gotta try the strong stuff! BTW, I almost tried to take the case back, due to age and many damaged labels. However, we very rarely see this out east. The best decisions are ones you don’t make. I savored every teensy bottle!

I will probably never rate anything perfect, but this is as close to perfect as there can be. I just wish it was easier to obtain.

This beer always gives me a big......smile. When my good friend Rune at the Draught House in Austin pours me one, I lose all ability to keep the saliva in my head. The beer looks like orange, roast chestnut colored gold. Head is nonexistant...only a treacly layer of lacing left. when you press it to your face (to make love to it with your nose) you are overwhelmed by the most devastatingly flowery, thick and chunky, oily like the banana boat girls aroma this side of a chinese opium den. In the mouth the beer has an immense thickness and textual complexity. It feels like you have the tastiest motor oil in your mouth. Sweet and refreshingly bitter this beer tastes more like something made by the hand of God himself. Not too bitter not too sweet, simply superbly balanced. Aftertase leaves my mouth blue balled and needing more. Sorry I know its dirty but its soooo true. Probably my favorite beer. G-rat

UPDATED: DEC 15, 2006 This have been my absolute favorit since the first time I get a sample of an Old Foghorn in 2003. It is so complete in all ways. The aroma, the foam, the colour.. Everything is good.. Absolutely the best Barley Wine i’ve ever tasted.

Delicious. Fades from a deep cherry to a hazy orange as it comes around the sniffer. Small but lasting fizzy head. Aroma is pleasantly pungent and smells of a deep, unmatched fruitiness. So sweet and yet so perfectly offset by a background of salty, yet caramelized fried okra, high quality cascade, and a subtle tangy plum/dried cherry. Perfectly carbonated as well! The only beer I have tasted that compares remotely to Rochefort. Hopheads I’m sure want more IBU’s but this beer’s strongest asset is its balance. Excellent and fulfilling.

UPDATED: OCT 5, 2003 I'm convinced this beer on tap makes for the greatest beer drinking experince possible. For some reason, magical things tend to happen in the presence of this beer.