Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Anchor Liberty Ale

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company
Where: San Francisco, California
Beer: Liberty Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 6.0%

Today's sample is Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California.  Anchor beers are widely available and shouldn't be too difficult to find.  On a recent trip to the World Market, I picked up three individual bottles of Anchor beers for my sampling regimen, and this is the first to get the cap popped. 

Liberty Ale poured with a nice golden color coming from the simple 2-row malted barley base grain used to make this beer.  I nice foamy head followed and hung around for most of this drink.  The head provided an interesting aroma of hops (probably Cascade) as this beer is dry hopped during the aging process.  I could not find an IBU listing for this beer, but I would assume it's in the neighborhood of 40 IBU.  It's not an extreme APA like so many that are appearing on the shelves these days.  This beer has been around for a while... From the website:

First introduced in 1975, Liberty Ale is brewed strictly according to traditional brewing methods, and, like all Anchor Brewing Company products, uses only natural ingredients - water, malted barley, fresh whole hops and yeast. 

A special top-fermenting ale yeast is used during fermentation and is responsible for many of Liberty Ale's subtle flavors and characteristics.  Carbonation is produces by an entirely natural process called "bunging," which produces champagne-like bubbles.  Dry-hopping (adding fresh hops to the brew dring aging) imparts a unique aroma to the ale.  It is a process rarely used in this country today.

I think the last statement about dry hopping may be a little out of date now, but it does truly produce an aroma that can't be matched otherwise.