Humming Ale
Anchor Brewing Company

Humming AleHumming Ale
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From:
Anchor Brewing Company
 
California, United States
Style:
American Pale Ale
ABV:
5.9%
Score:
84
Avg:
3.72 | pDev: 12.37%
Reviews:
335
Ratings:
665
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 19, 2022
Added:
Nov 04, 2009
Wants:
  23
Gots:
  30
This bold, frothy, effervescent craft ale, with hints of citrus, finds its name throughout English literature that might just as well describe its taste, its history, or just how it makes you feel.
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Ratings by MattyG85:
Photo of MattyG85
Reviewed by MattyG85 from Minnesota

4.2/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from 12 oz. bottle into a Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" glass.

Appearance: Pours a bright and clear copper amber orange with a lot of rising bubbles. Huge six finger creamy white head with good retention. Leave s a lot of sticky creamy lacing around the glass.

Smell: Very bright and crisp aroma of citrus. Citrus hops with big hints of oranges, pineapple, lemon zest, mango, and apricot. Wheat grains and pale malts with good hints of bready biscuit, crackers, and hay. Also some nice herbal smelling earthy hops as well as a little bit of pine needles. Citrus esters stand out the most. A really nice and refreshing aroma.

Taste: As bright and citrusy as the smell gives off. Juicy and bitter citrus hops up front with big notes of oranges, pineapple, mango, peach, lemons, and apricot. A nice herbal, earthy flavor from the Nelson Sauvin hops. Slight hint of pine. Solid presence of wheat grains and pale malts in the mix with notes of biscuit, cracker, hay, and a light hint of honey. Nicely ripe, juicy, and bitter upfront with a solid sweet malt balance. Pretty good.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Crisp, juicy, creamy, and very smooth.

Overall: A very solid Pale Ale here. Really good citrus taste with a nice balance of pale malts.
Sep 12, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

3.51/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
355 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.9%. Deep golden colour, moderate white head. Very nice aroma of Nelson Sauvin hops, fruity notes (gooseberries, tropical fruits), hints of pine. Refreshing flavour, medium dry, with a distinct hoppy bitterness throughout, sharpish in the aftertaste. Not very complex.
Jul 19, 2022
 
Rated: 3.94 by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota

Oct 13, 2021
Photo of ThirstyLion
Reviewed by ThirstyLion from New Jersey

4.42/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
Humming Ale unfortunately is not available in the Northeast. I've only seen it available in Connecticut liquor stores and I was always sure to pick up a couple six packs anytime I was passing through.

Humming Ale has a Blood Orange, Pomegranate look with a Citrus laced nose that upon the first sip turns into Coriander, Flour Petal, Hazelnuts & Grapefruit.

This is a drinkable beer. The more you drink, I suppose, the more you hum to yourself because you'll be very happy.

Humming Ale has a froth factor of a 5.0 and based on how unique and craft like it is, I would rate it in the upper 10% of all American beers ever made. a wonderful beer for the winter time also and if served in a frosty mug, you will drink your fill happily.

Anchor is an absolutely legit brewery & if they ever got serious about selling beer, they would probably be one of the top five beers in the country. Perhaps that is not their goal however. They may be happy just being a great West coast cornerstone craft brewery. There's no shame in that.

Anchor's beers are priced right. Humming Ale sadly seems to have long disappeared from New England but if I ever do happen upon it again I'm certainly going to grab a shopping cart and grab a couple cases at least.
Feb 01, 2021
 
Rated: 3.79 by DvdP from Netherlands

Sep 27, 2020
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

3.34/5  rDev -10.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
Clear light orange.

Nice white head; decent lacing.

Plain malt nose; not a good start.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Slight bread-y malts, slight hop bite; not much flavor.

A boring but not undrinkable beer.
Apr 09, 2019
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

3.5/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This was poured into a pint glass. The appearance has a fairly clear burnt golden orange color body with a white one finger head. There was some light lacing that slid right on into the body. The smell had some light floral with just a touch spicy with underlying tropical notes. The taste was mild with a light bittersweet floral to spicy to grasp a light pine hovering over a some light toasty biscuit. There was a fairly decent lingering biscuit aftertaste that lead into a dry finish. On the palate, this one sat fairly light but also showed a decent aspect to make me think it could have sat at medium on the body. I’d say this was fairly sessionable and did have a decent carbonation to it. Overall, in my opinion, this is a good APA worthy of having again.
Jun 12, 2017
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.92/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Comes out looking amber and auburn, 1/4" off white head. The aroma was a delight, poppin' dem Nelson hops all up in your grill.

Taste was the hoppiest thing from Anchor I've ever had, including Old Foghorn! Very dry malt body here, dem honey pale malts. So cool, Anchor, one of the more old school traditional brewery, dropping new school down under New Zealand or whatnot hops into a new recipe. It works. It works quite well, this is my fave Anchor beer now. Wish I could see it more, but Nelsons seem to be in short supply.
May 25, 2016
 
Rated: 3.87 by DucksFan16 from Tennessee

Sep 12, 2015
 
Rated: 3.37 by EdTheEdge from California

Sep 07, 2015
 
Rated: 3.92 by connecticutpoet from Connecticut

Aug 20, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by jpuetz from South Dakota

Aug 10, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by kmoen from California

Apr 12, 2015
 
Rated: 3.85 by DrBier from Pennsylvania

Jan 15, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by ovaltine from Indiana

Dec 31, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by double2chin from California

Dec 16, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Kevin72 from Kentucky

Dec 08, 2014
 
Rated: 2.75 by olradetbalder from Sweden

Dec 08, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by rvisgaitis from New York

Nov 09, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by Skabiski from Maryland

Oct 19, 2014
Humming Ale from Anchor Brewing Company
Beer rating: 84 out of 100 with 665 ratings