I bought a mixed 6-pack the other day at the local hippy grocery store and one of the bottles I chose was a bottle of Anchor Brewing Company, Liberty Ale. I knew absolutely nothing about Liberty Ale or the Anchor Brewing Co. for that matter. I figured it was worth the shot.

History & Info

Upon first inspection the bottle is a little short and stout compared to that of a Budweiser or Heineken (and much shorter than a Grolsch or Heineken Premium Light). The label on the top says that it was first brewed in San Fran in 1975 to celebrate Paul Revere’s historic ride (which if you didn’t know, Longfellow actually gave sole credit to Revere when in fact it was thanks to the collective efforts of three riders that warned of the British approach…oh and I’m assuming this is where the Liberty comes from in Liberty Ale.) It also lists the ingredients as Barley Malt, Hops, Yeast, and Water. It’s also a “dry hopped” beer (adding hops to the primary fermenter, the maturation tank, or the casked beer to increase the aroma and hop character of the finished beer). It’s brewed year-round and comes in the bottle variety or on tap at your local pub.

Taste & Smell

Pop the top. Time for a quick sniff and sip. It doesn’t smell out of the ordinary or entirely unique. As a matter of fact I was expecting a rather dull and uneventful beer. It does have a rather nice citrus hop smell though, so I thought I knew what to expect when I took a sip. It has an instant hop bite and afterwards followed by a balancing malt flavor with some some grassy and fruity tones. And by grassy yes I mean it tastes like it has grass in it. Ok, so not really…the flavor comes more from the smell of the beer and smells more like pine than it tastes of grass. It’s only one of the dozens of flavors blended into this beer though. It has a pretty light golden orange color to it and lots and lots of carbonation. A few of these and I’ll be burping a storm.

In The End

I’ve never been a big fan of the malt taste so that is going to penalize this beer in my review unfortunately. It’s a decent beer and has a lightly burned full bodied aftertaste. I give it a 7 out of 10 overall.