Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company, San Fransico, CA

Brewery: Description: “Old Foghorn^® Barleywine Style Ale is brewed strictly according to traditional brewing methods, using only natural ingredients — water, malted barley, fresh whole hops, and yeast. Old Foghorn is based on traditional English barley wines. Old Foghorn is highly hopped, using only Cascade hops. It is fermented with a true top-fermenting ale yeast. Carbonation is produced by an entirely natural process called “bunging,” which produces champagne-like bubbles. Our “barleywine ale” is dry-hopped with additional Cascade hops while it ages in our cellars. We have been producing small batches of Old Foghorn since 1975. Today, it is available both on draught and in twelve-ounce bottles. The high original gravity and full flavor of this ale make it a unique product, perfect for sipping after dinner. A lot of time and tradition goes into our Old Foghorn, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.”

Brew Style: Barley Wine (see a good description here via ratebeer.com), 9.0% ABV

Recommended Glassware: Snifter

The Ugly Truth: Is that I love barley wines. Love them. I would drink them all day long, if I could avoid the nasty side effect of the getting completely sh*tfaced from it. Last time I drank a load of barley wine was at a World Beer Festival in Boston at the Cyclorama. When it started they would only give you half a pint of anything over 7.5%, but that didn’t last as towards the end of the night they were trying to kill the kegs. Let me tell you, drinking 5 or 6 full pints of some unpronoucable 16% ABV German barley wine can be…interesting. I remember walking out the door, and then I remember waking up in my bed. I think it was the next day I went to either Dave’s or Jay’s with a killer hangover and declared I was swearing off beer for a month. I think I was back to drinking a beer that afternoon. I mean c’mon there was a game on. Ah well, it was a noble effort. TO THE BEER!!

Anchor Old Foghorn Ale is actually a pretty good barley wine, even if it is at the low end of the barley wine ABV range. If you have never had a barley wine before, this would be a good one to start with to get an idea of how they taste. It pours a deep orange/amber color with a fairly minimal head on it. You could smell the barley wine aroma about 2 feet away from the glass and Lord did it being back memories. I haven’t had a barley wine in years and it made my mouth water. It had that nice sweet malty smell to it. The taste had the initial strong taste common to most barley wines, and then it really smoothed out. This was probably one of the smoother barley wines I’ve ever had. The taste is really good, with mild hops balanced with some sweetness creating a really enjoyable experience. The aftertaste is barely noticable, blends into the whole experience rather well. Overall, the taste is really great without getting overbearing as some of the higher ABV barley wines can get and it has a really good balance of flavors. I definitely recommend it for the first time barley wine drinker, and also for those who regularly enjoy barley wines.

Verdict: Anchors away, lads! Raise 8 out of 10 bottlecaps worth of sail and let’s ship out!