Anchor Porter
Anchor Brewing Company

 

 

Bottled on: 06-09-22

A - Pitch black pour with a frothy layer of creamy foam resting on top.

S - Nice roasty chocolate and coffee malt aroma with a touch of char.

T - Chocolate roast, a slight bit of coffee, some toffee, and a hint of dark fruit. Finishes with a pleasing lingering chocolate coffee char. There's also a very slight bit of astringency.

M - Medium body with soft prickly carbonation.

O - Solid and glad to finally find this one, first time ever noticing it on the shelf.

Roasty, smooth, flavors of cocoa, fruit (raisin and prune come to mind), slightly spicy. Sits well with me, and sips well with me. An old favorite, a classic, great porter beer.

Appearance: Pours a dark, nearly black color with a mild tan head. SRM of 23. (3.75)

Aroma: Strong aromas of English and dark chocolate, some coffee and hints of dark malt and molasses underneath. (4.00)

Favor: Strong flavors of bittersweet chocolate, dried cocoa powder, with some coffee and dark malt. Balanced by dry finish. (4.25)

Feel: Medium-bodied, roasted grainy mouthfeel. Balanced. (4.00)

Compared to Einstok Icelandic Porter 1/7/2023: Pours similar, milder aromas. More chocolate and roast. Less bittersweetn chocolate and English cream. Roastier, dryer, and more American.

Compared to Surly Skeleton Tree 1/7/2023: Pours darker, stronger aromas. More chocolate. Less airy roast, dark grain, and yeast. Slightly maltier and more balanced.

Compared to Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald 3/2023: More English chocolate, espresso bean dark fruit. less bittersweet chocolate, dark roast, bitterness.

Compared to Bent Paddle Black 3/2023: More English chocolate, espresso bean, dark fruit. Less milk chocolate, coffee roast. Milder.

Overall: A nice Porter here with bittersweet English chocolate, cocoa, and roasted flavors. Drinks balanced, but leans dry as a porter should. A lower ABV and clean, yet flavorful. Nicely done and balanced all around. (Rating: 4.14)

Poured from 12oz bottle to a nonic pint glass. Pours a deep, rich brown with a decent dark khaki head that settled to a cap. Beer is opaque. Smell is roasted malt, caramel, and chocolate. Also there's a bit of hop aroma too. Taste had cocoa, coffee, roasted barley, generic fruitiness in the finish. Feel is medium bodied, well-carbonated. Overall, this is a really nice porter with a strong hop presence, yet it still remains rather well- balanced.

Poured from a bottle into a tulip glass.
The body is inky black with a half inch of brown head with a mild pour. Retention is average.
The intensity of aroma is medium. There are notes of malt, salted toffee, rich dark chocolate and black coffee. It smells wonderful.
The intensity of taste is medium high with a dryer and more hoppy flavor than the aroma suggests. Normally, I loath hoppy porters, but Anchor got this one right. With a swallow, the flavor keeps going. There are flavors of toffee, deep dark chocolate, more black coffee than in the aroma and a long pronounced hoppy flavor that's medium in intensity. It's rich and delicious. I've missed having a go to dark beer after New Castle changed. This will likely be it's much better replacement. I usually support local Austin breweries, but this is a much better beer than 512 Pecan Porter which is much more expensive for a four-pack compared to a six-pack of this.
The thickness is just under medium. It's quite dry with a low level of astringency. Well, I finished the bottle before I could accurately detect the level of creaminess. With it's 5.6% ABV, I'm feeling a little numbness in my face. I will open another bottle tomorrow to finish this.
The level of creaminess is high. The carbonation is unique. The bubbles are tiny and tickle the tongue creating a effervescent quality. It has a lot of world class qualities in the mouth feel alone.
Overall, I'm amazed by how excellent this is. After trying a few beers that I didn't care for, Anchor Porter reminded me how truly great a beer can be.

Tasty

Pours into hotel plastic cup like a stout, frothy tan head
Big tastes of coffee, chocolate and toffee/caramel for being light in abv. Finishes slightly dry. Delicious Union Made Beer to celebrate Labor Day

Pours a very dark brownish color with a dark tan head. Smell is of chocolate and coffee, caramel, and malt. Taste is a nice chocolate-coffee and caramel. Good tasting Porter.

The Porter is a dark beer and I got a two finger mocha head in a nonic. The roasty chocolate smell is inviting. The taste is roasty and finishes bitter. The solid mouthfeel bites back with the lingering bitterness. Overall an enjoyable porter.

 

From the 12 oz bottle in a snifter. This classic pours a dark blackish brown with
a very nice head of khaki foam that settles to a thick ring, thin clumping layer,
and shows off some nice lacing. Nose of dark coffee, dark cocoa, moderate char,
and roast with subtle dark fruit hints. Flavors hit the mark with dark fruit notes
of black and raspberry, dark cocoa, dark coffee, char, and balanced sweet
caramel malts. Nice mouth feel; medium full body edging towards medium,
smooth, lightly coating, light carbonation, and a balanced char and roast finish
that is lightly dry.

Overall---EXCELLENCE!

Cheers

Opened this fresh 12 ouncer and drank it straight from the bottle.
This is a superb everyday Porter, richly delicious, tastes of coffee, mild chocolate, dark malt. Drinks light. Finishes crisp. Excellent American display of the style.

Delightful dark roast coffee flavors with a hint of chocolate. Crisp, light, and ultimately refreshing.
About as good a porter as any I've tried.

 

 

 

A true American classic. This porter is quite a treat bursting with caramel and chocolate notes. A deep brown dark chocolate color with a nice white-brown head is magnificent. Raise to your nose and you are met with roasted aromas and the beer tastes malty and smooth like melted dark chocolate. A great beer reminiscent of a mocha coffee.

 

 

From the rear label: "PKG050521"

Appearance: It has a black body with a large, thick, khaki head. The head has a creamy texture on top with shallow lumps and ripples across its surface. Head retention is good and as it slowly recedes it leaves a nice sheet of thick cobweb lacing with large round gaps in the sheeting. It looks exactly like you would picture a Porter in a magazine.

Aroma: There isn't much going on in the aroma here. It has a bit of a phenolic, rubbery scent. As the beer sits there is a scent of nail polish. Very odd aromas.

Taste: Up front there is nail polish and a bit of toasted caramel. Towards the middle the nail polish character comes through even stronger. There is a pleasant note of coffee and faint burnt carbon. The nail polish character really kills the other flavors.

Mouthfeel: There is a medium roasted grain bitterness to the beer and a body that rests on the upper edge of medium. Carbonation feels fine. Drinkability is low given the flavor and aromas.

Overall: A very disappointing beer. The off-flavors in this beer really hamper any positive characters that might have a chance at getting out. I wouldn't recommend this beer. I wouldn't buy it again unless I could try it directly from the brewery to see if it was an issue with the batch, the packaging, or if the recipe is consistently like this.

Black with a tan head, excellent retention and lace
Dark chocolate, some char, a hint of licorice and dried fruit.
Much more char on the palate, dried fruit, licorice, the darkest chocolate you've ever had, lingering finish
Medium-heavy body and appropriate carbonation
Surprised I hadn't reviewed this one yet, it's an old favorite.

Serving: 12 oz bottle (“PKG090821”) poured into a 9 oz Libbey Embassy snifter.

Appearance: Pours a deep dark brown with a healthy head of tan foam and sticky lace.

Smell: Rich aromas of cocoa, espresso, dark roasted malt and hints of caramel.

Taste: Dark malt and hops, leaning more towards roasted grains, coffee, earthy minerals and crisp bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with lively carbonation.

Overall: Both bright and dark, well hopped and deeply, roasted malt.

 

 

 

 

Pours very dark. Dark foam. Chocolate aroma. Dry hop body. Chocolate and coffee are present. Fades to a deep roasted malt finish. A little too much carbonation. It takes away from the flavor. Otherwise pretty good.

 

 

 

Poured into shaker pint. Beautiful chocolate cream head that drops to a ring, with a big patch of lace. Beer is cola and opaque.

Nose is on the creamy side, with some dark fruit.

Taste is sweet and creamy with chocolaty malt and mildly bitter note

Good carbonation on a medium body. Mild bitter finish.

This was one of my first craftier beers. Still great. "Beer that tastes like beer." - guy at the liquor store

 

12 ounce bottle poured into a tulip glass. Bottled 5/5/21.

L---Darkest brown color with a big, khaki head that had very good retention and left very nice lacing.

S---Both milk and dark chocolate. Caramel.

T---Milk chocolate moreso than the still present dark. Caramel. Very, very light on the advertised coffee (is 4 months too old for a porter?).

F---Feels bigger than 5.6% ABV. A little bit more than medium body with good carbonation.

O---A really nice one.

 

Blind-tasted except for the beer's name and brewery/country, zero reviews below read (yet!)...
L- Black, fat 15mm mid-tan head.
S- Malty
T- Lovely balance of malts and toast.
F- Rich deep stout-like beer.
O- A surprise find off in a rather 'DIY' bottle-shop in the suburbs of Oxford England. Very nice. Might prefer a fresher bottle next time,
Review2018. 355ml bottle BB: 07-2021 Bought from Grog Shop, Oxford.

Bottled 2/23/21

Yet again, how have I not yet tried this beer? An absolute classic, especially amongst the early craft beers. From what I have read before, I was under the assumption that this was actually an English Porter, which I tend to enjoy a little bit more than their harsher American counterparts. Anyways, I’m excited to finally try this, no matter what it is

Pours a very dark brown with a finger of creamy tan head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves minimal lacing

The nose here strikes a balance I really like between burnt bread and sweeter malt. I’m picking up on aromas of roasted barley, dark bread, lightly acidic coffee, chocolate malt, and very mild earthy hops

A slightly less delicate balance is achieved in taste, leaning more into the bitter and roasty side of things. As I said, this is not particularly my preference, but it is well done. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting dark roast coffee, roasted barley, herbal hops, dark chocolate, and toffee. The swallow brings notes of dark bread, doughy malt, light raisin, herbal hops, and milk chocolate

A medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a biting yet smooth beer. Finishes mostly dry with a slowly expanding sweetness

This is crafted beautifully. While not the most impressive porter I’ve had, the execution is just incredible. I need to get this more often

Dark brown with a foamy tan head. Aroma of dark malts; cocoa, chocolate, coffee, nut, caramel. Nice dry Porter flavor. Slight bitterness. Finishes really clean. Nice medium body. A delicious example of a Porter.