Anchor Liberty Ale:
Hello all and welcome to the second review of Anchor brewing and their beers.  Lets stop a moment and contemplate why Anchor is in the position it is in today’s craft beer market.  Probably the first thing to note is the change in what we call breweries like Anchor; it used to be known as micro breweries and, in the past 30-40 years, that was a precious few that you could probably count on one hand, maybe two.  Anchor and Samuel Adams breweries lead the way in bringing craft brews back to the marketplace.  So since this is a pioneering brewery, why are they so unpopular with the masses?  It’s hard to say.  The best reasoning I’ve heard is that they don’t market themselves much, don’t have commercials with George Thorogood playing in the background and they look like bottles our grandparents would drink from.  Well, it’s shame that such beers like Anchor Steam Beer and today’s brew, Anchor Liberty Ale go over looked at the beer store.  Liberty Ale pours a nice hazy golden color that gives up a medium density head that starts very thick but settles to a nice half inch and is very thick and a nose of lemons and subtle hop notes.  The beer initially tastes of a variety of strong citrus alternating between sour grapefruit and lemons while the mid and back tongue that is like a mellow American pale ale but not too sour.  The aftertaste is very clean and minor with little lingering skunk and is very light on the palate.   While classified as an IPA, this should be called a West Coast IPA or American Pale Ale for it’s mellow hop character.  That being said, another great beer from the gang at Anchor and another to add to the permanent rotation next year; if guests are coming over I’m buying a few of these for them to try.  I’ll do my best to get Anchor’s name out there so all know about it and it’s well crafted brews.