California Lager
Anchor Brewing Company

 

Crisp and dry, bone dry, but tasty. Pleasing malt aroma, small light and fluffy head, golden clear body. Taste is malt and bread, saltine crackers, abrupt finish, but refreshing.

 

 

Standard caveat: I rate here the way I do on Untappd.

I am sorry that I only discovered this beer as Anchor appears to be on its way out.

Poured into a pilsner glass. Deep gold color.

Very bready, biscuity mouthfeel. It really has the same underlying flavor profile as Steam without the caramel notes. Finishes crisply. It's a solid American lager

 

Pours a clear burnished gold color. Two finger white sudsy head forms on the beer, lingers a moment, then dissipates leaving just a thin residual layer of foam. Aroma has notes of light grainy malt, some light yeast and a touch of floral hops. Taste follows the nose with notes of cereal and grainy malts, some light sweetness and a touch of yeast. Back end has some floral hops. Feel is light, pretty crisp and easy drinking. Bright carbonation.

Overall its a solid American lager.

Perfectly clear, allowing one to be entranced by the bubbles that sustain a half centimeter full cap of white foam. The nose has a cereal malt vibe, with what I am assuming a mix of yeast and hops bringing a fruity floral aroma.

A nice, bready malt hits my tongue first, though there’s a hint of staleness that gets accentuated by an odd pause in flavor. It’s a bit like an earthy hops decides to take over and then spends a few seconds going over the plans before executing them.

There’s a familiar mineral companion to the earthy bitterness that marches firearms after the pause. I wish I could have this alongside a Steam to see if it’s something “in the Anchor DNA” I am getting. The finish tries to turn grassy, but the conditions apparently aren’t quite right for anything lush and green.

Warmth brings a little bit of orchard fruit and the mineral note combines with the earthy to become a tad more clay-like, but these are small deviations on the overall experience. The lingering dry grass and pine needles that aren’t so distinct in single early sips tend to build up with successive tips of the glass and are what tips this beer into the enjoyable category for me.

Pours with a generous head - beer is a medium amber gold - aroma is a bit underwhelming, with hops in the forefront and not much else - taste is okay, but there is very little malt presence at all - hops are a bit harsh on the aftertaste - beer has an okay mouthfeel - overall a decent lager, but there is nothing here that makes it stand out

 

355 ml bottle, as Anchor California Lager, from Fakta, Denmark. ABV is 4.9%. Golden colour, moderate white head. Sweetish aroma of malts and floral, herbal and fruity hops. The flavour is medium dry, well hopped throughout, with a fairly bitter aftertaste. A well made lager - simple, but decent.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure how I never reviewed this back in the day, but I'm not gonna bother with a proper review now. It's a unique lager, but not too different from their steam, and it's too dry and with that signature Anchor "sawdust" character for me to really wanna drink it again.

Serving: 12 oz can poured into a 7 oz tall Libbey Gibraltar glass.

Appearance: Clear, pale golden yellow with a sudsy head of bright white foam.

Smell: Clean aromas of cereal grain and floral hops.

Taste: Light, refreshingly flavor with a nice balance of pale malt body and just enough spicy, floral hops and clean butter finish.

Mouthfeel: Light body, smooth and crisp carbonation.

Overall: Any easy drinker with a nice balance of malt body and crisp hops.

 

 

Anchor Brewing makes a ton of hoppy beer.

This is the exception.

I first tried these California Lagers years ago and fell in love immediately. (I'm not a big fan of beers with a bitter hop approach. I'll drink them, but it's a "once in a great while" thing for me.) Finding a beer with a malty approach from Anchor was an eye opening moment.

This beer pours gold. I mean LITERALLY golden. Nice head for a lager, it disappeared rather fast, though. Not much visible carbonation, some, but not much. Smell is a nice mix of malt and (VERY LIGHT) fruity hops. Taste is a strong malt with slight bitter bite. (Less than a lime in a Corona.) Wonderful fullbodied flavor, nice amount of carbonation.

Overall my FAVORITE beer for the summer. You name it, it's good for it!!! From bbqs to reunions. Everyone seems to like this West coast lager!