King Of Nothing
Anchorage Brewing Company

 

 

My review from New Beer Weekend #144 follows.

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This weekend's new beer is King of Nothing by Anchorage Brewing Company. I got my hands on this one via my beer brother from another mother, @TurkeysDrinkBeer. Steve, I owe you more than you will ever know! Spoiler: this beer is delicious!

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Arise, Honoured Lords, for your King is poured, and He will reign liquid judgment on his realm and all that dwell within. His court must bear witness, must inscribe this event, for this King has lain long in frigid slumber. Now He is awakened to His fate, and He encourages contemplation, introspection, and consumption. It is my fate to bear witness, and bear witness I shall.

This King bears dark raiment; impenetrable midnight black worn about his frame, permitting light neither entry nor exit. Encased in His glass throne He is still, as still as the deepest depths of the darkest loch. No carbonation flutters His garment. A crown of thin, mocha lace adorns His head. He is pomp. He is regal. He is the King. L: 4.5

The Royal Host bears scented gifts of aniseed, dark yet smooth roast, and an umami note that brings the physical sensation of crackly, poppy, pork rind exploding a savoury, salty, soy-filled joy in my mouth. Like a rooster that knows it is cock of the yard it holds nothing back and grows in generosity as time and warmth play their part, producing ethereal notes of wood, vanilla and bourbon. This is perfume fit for a King. S: 4.5

This King presents regally from a distance. He looks and smells as Maximus Rex should. He hides no evidence, squirrels no secret, and sits proud and erect upon His sensory dais. But pomp and ceremony go only so far. A true KIng provides substance, a backbone for a kingdom, a pillar upon which all might lean. A true King offers His soul for his people. We must look deeper.

He offers His being, His body, and we sup. The Royal Feast provides opening notes of booze - strong, stomach-warming, throat-clearing booze - along with raspberry, cola-nut, aniseed and a sherry-like snappiness that lurks under all. There's a sweetness, almost maple-like in its thickness (if you're Australian, or English, it's more like Golden Syrup) but which is kicked abruptly by the barrel that wafts in, like a sea-borne fog upon the Royal Fleet, providing an emphatic full stop to all that has gone before. This is so emphatically delicious, so regally endowed with all of the best qualities that breeding, privilege and courtly education bestow. This is Rex Gloriosis. Long live the King. T: 5

The body of this King is the smoothest silk, the most expensive velum, the finest lace. It sits full and unctuous in the mouth. It slides down the throat like the finest oyster, leaving scant carbonic prickle and the most pleasing warmth in its stead. The King was here, and we did but see Him passing by. B: 4.5

Ultimately, the glory of the Monarchy rests with the accomplishment of its figureheads as they walk time's musty corridor. But the empire that seems destined to last forever inevitably crumbles and falls. The endless spin of time, growth and decay play upon us all, humble paeon, glorious Monarch, or world-spanning hegemon. And so it goes. None can delay the inevitable, especially those that seek greatness, who seek to fly close to the sun.

As I reach the end of my glass I look back upon this beer and the story it tells from the eye to the nose to the mouth to the throat. It reigns supreme while its sun blazes high above the meridian. It is one of the best beers I have ever had. But like everything, its time came to an end. It journeyed from the most sublime of liquids to an empty glass. It is now but a memory, a beer that will stand near the dais whenever I consider how regal, how glorious beer can be.

It was the King of my senses while it reigned, but ultimately, with my empty glass, it is King of Nothing. O: 4.75

Cheers!
#230

An aggressive complexity to this beer that came off a tad abrasive. Red wine, raisin, burnt oak, drying tannin, umami, & baking cocoa. Finishes bitter, boozy, & thin. Was getting cognac barrel vibes. Overall, you’ll be rewarded if you sip slowly.