While I may love the 3-day weekend, I’m always torn about how I feel about Labor Day. It of course signifies the end of summer (as well as the end of my ability to wear white shoes), but it also launches a significant change in the style of beer hitting beer-shelves everywhere. With the end of summer in mind, I was very happy to receive a package from Anchor Brewing that will help me hold on to Summer 2018 for just a little bit longer.One of the very first “craft” beers I ever encountered when I first started noticing beer was Anchor Steam. I remember thinking that actual steam was used to brew the beer, and only when we talked to our pal Mark Carpenter did I find out that wasn’t the case. Anchor Steam is a classic pioneer-beer in the craft beer world with historic roots (dating back to 1896 and 1971 for it’s first modern bottling). Anchor Steam wrote the script for flavorful beer that modern breweries still follow today.
Today we’re sampling Anchor Steam from the new 19.2oz cans and while I’ve literally “sampled” this beer hundreds of times, I really enjoyed the new 19.2oz experience. Anchor Steam pours a rich amber color with loads of toasted malt, caramel and toffee in the aromas. The mouthfeel is creamy and the flavors lead with roasted malt and caramel and finish with a clean and crisp hop bitterness. The balance of sweet malt and bitter hops hits a really nice note and overall the beer is rich and satisfying. I’ll also admit that I drank the beer directly from the 19.2oz can and I think it is a great modern package for this classic beer.
Up next we decided to pop the top on Anchor San Franpsycho. This beer was launched in spring 2018 as a collaboration with San Franpsycho, (a community-based clothing and lifestyle brand) and it was released nationwide. The beer is brewed with red wheat, 2-row malt and acidulated malt and this “uniquely San Francisco” beer is available through Sept in 12oz bottles. This amber-colored IPA has some very fruit-forward aromas and fruit-forward flavors that we really enjoyed. If you love stone fruit, take the time to smell this beer. The flavors scream peach, peach and more peach with just a bit of tropical fruit and citrus. The mouthfeel is creamy and effervescent and the finish is a bit dank and sweet. We liked the late pineapple flavors, but peach is the major player in this beer (that’s a good thing!) Overall this is a unique IPA that I think juicy IPA drinkers will love.
Finally we opened a new Anchor Brewing beer called Brewers’ Pale Ale. This new pale ale is what Anchor is calling a “modern take on the American pale ale.” The beer is double dry-hopped and it will use an evolving hop blend. This version uses Nelson Sauvin hops and again according to Anchor it is “brewed by brewers for brewers.” Brewers’ Pale Ale pours a bright yellow/orange color with loads of citrus in the nose. The mouthfeel is soft and satisfying and we found citrus, lemon, biscuit and even a nice bitter and resinous finish. This isn’t a sticky double-IPA resin flavor, but a nicely balanced and subtle piney finish. The Nelson Sauvin punches up the citrus and lemon, so I’ll be very curious to see how other hop varieties play with the flavors. Overall the balance of this beer is really nice and at a sessionable 5.3%-AbV we found it to be very drinkable. My 12oz bottle was empty very quickly and I can’t wait to try this one again.
A big thank you to Anchor Brewing for taking us on this late summer beer sampling ride. From the classic flavors of Anchor Steam, to the fruit forward flavors of San Franpsycho and finally to what may be my new go-to beer in Brewers’ Pale Ale Nelson Sauvin…we really enjoyed sampling all three beers and I recommend you do the same over the Labor Day weekend. These are really interesting and well balanced beers so get out there and try them for yourself. As always, when you do sample these beer, be sure to let us know what YOU think.
I’ve added in the 2019 12oz can packaging for San Franpsycho juicy IPA.
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