Anchor Porter

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

Serve in English pint, Stem glass

UPDATED: JUN 17, 2005 July 2001: Did a Porter session and sampled this after McNeills. Not disappointed with this great brew, probably 5 years since I’ve last had it. Wonderful smoky/sweet/popcorn (yeah, that’s what I get) aroma followed by incredibly well-balanced robust/sweet flavor. Probably the best American porter I’ve had. Now, if only I could get the barley wine around here....8/5/10/5/19 4.7

June 2005: yet another beer I rated incredibly high in my first year on RB that I will proceed to trash now...no, just kidding. The beer pours an incredibly well-laced, thick dark-headed coal black, just beautiful...lovely cocoa nose with small hints of buttery caramel and popcorn, hmm was I spot on 4 years ago?...vanilla and a tiny hint of orange as well...flavor is outstanding, the velvety moutfeel supporting creamy vanilla-chocolate, sort of "3 Musketeers" bar nougat goodness, but with some acerbic, lightly sour cherries and dark roast coffee giving some bite...compulsively drinkable, exquisitely balanced, still one of the very best porters ever and worth the extremely high grade I gave it when young and impressionable.

It’s a splendid little beer - I seldom rate this high. French roasted coff, bitter chocolate and a slightly syrupy stickiness when you pour it. Sometimes I wish some brewers in Dublin sat down, tasted some of the best stouts and porters from around the globe and tried to make a brew like this. They would not have to push it as their primary product - just something to bottle condition and keep for special customers.

Aroma of sweet coffee. Like a sweet starbucks drink. Pours black with absolutley no head retention whatsoever. Flavor is more coffee. Sweet roasty burnt malts. Some roasted nuts as well. A little bit of metallic notes. This is a pretty thick beer as well. Sweet, roasty, and nice.

rich chocolate and malt aroma. Velvety light body palate. Nice chocolate flavor with hints of coffee and a very slight sweet fruity and toffee flavored finish. A good everyday beer.

Poured a very dark brown with a reddish tint when held to light. Thin tan head. Aroma was lightly roasted with a touch of piney hops. Flavors of roasted malt (but not as roasty as some other brands tried this tasting) fruity and mildly hoppy. Medium bodied with a clean smooth finish.

12-oz. Pours a dark, predominantly opaque ebony black with amber highlights at the edges. Light layer of tan head that walks away whistling directly. Roast and sweet caramel on the nose. Plenty of sweet malt to balance the roast in the palate; from start to finish this is essentially a marriage between sweet and roast with a bit of hop flourish at the end. Some fizz in the body, and it stands up well, but it’s somewhere between chewy and quenching and I’m not sure whether I like it--sometimes yes, sometimes no. This is a very good example of what I would consider a mainstream porter.

Bottle shared with tupalev. Pours a very dark brown with auburn hues and a small creamy light-brown head. Wonderful aroma and flavour of roasted malt, bitter chocolate, coffee and hops. Flavour has a great balance of sweet roasted malt and bitter hops. Medium body, not overly thin like some Porters. Fantastic, this sweet Porter is one of the best I’ve had.

Bottled(355ml). -at the Pianeta Birra, Rimini
Dark brown coloured, medium sized opaque head, slightly sweet chocolate nose. Light roasted chocolate aroma with nice chocolate and licorice notes. Bitter hoppy finish. Very nice beer.