The Anarchist
Big Rock Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

330 ml bottle poured into an English pint glass. The other half of the Rad Trad duo and this time they are looking to keep it English. A brownish red color with a finger or so of poofy beige bubbles rimming the glass. Does indeed smell like English hops, leafy, herbal, earthy, a classic "forest floor" vibe with citrus marmalade and a downplayed golden sugar and vanilla backbone. Potent English hops make one pucker a little (not a negative attribute) ... Tannic black tea, orange marmalade, leafy bitter greens, and something vaguely floral along with walnuts and light toffee. Body on the light side, just barely medium I suppose, with a rather prickly mouth feel (?). Carbonation is rather high and the finish is dry, nutty, a smidge coppery. Like Trad with ... You know ... Balls.

 

I don't have much to add to previous reviews. This is a pleasant variation of Big Rock's classic. I do like the sweeter, English brown ale profile this version brings. It definitely reminds me of my first experiences with brown ale - the now defunct Strathcona Brown Ale comes to mind...

 

 

 

330ml bottle poured into tulip 12/9/14

A clear reddish amber with loads of bubbles but just a pinky finger of foam leaves a collar of lace

S herbal, leafy hops, tea leaves, some citrus peel, spruce, hand full of pennies, fruit I cant place, smells like hopped up Trad

T more citrus, a little nutty and piney, I can't think of a Big Rock beer with more hops then this

M gritty, lighter side of medium, flattens out quickly, metallic finish

O not a bad beer but at the end of the day its a hopped up Trad

Did Big Rock get some new hops? its been a while since I've detected something I haven't noticed in a Big Rock brew before

330ml bottle, the second part of the 'Rad Trad' sixer now out, which contains variations on the base (Trad)itional Ale recipe - this one appears to be very British in its delta - but we've heard this very familiar marketing tripe before, haven't we, guvna?

This beer pours a clear, bright medium red-brick amber colour (pretty much the same as The Cascadian), with one measly finger of weakly puffy, loosely foamy, and rather bubbly tan head, which leaves some low-lying fog lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of floral and mildly perfumed hops up front, faintly biscuity caramel malt, a hint of crystalline toffee, weak demarara sugar, and a further musty leafiness. The taste is bready, crackery, and grainy caramel malt, a sly soaked nuttiness, pleasantly ethereal yeast, and earthy, leafy, and weedy noble hops.

The bubbles are fairly active, in a playfully frothy manner, the body medium-light in weight, and generally smooth, these particular hops being of a gentile bearing, it would seem. It finishes off-dry, the bready and nutty essences lingering, offset by a simple, yet endearing rounded bitterness.

Well, this is certainly the heady yin to the Cascadian's tepid yang. Perhaps the takeaway here is that Trad is an English ale at heart (despite the marketing babble to the contrary on the packaging), and thus English hop varietals should work best. Or something. Anyways, I still say that the best beer named 'Anarchist' made in Western Canada comes not from Calgary, but Penticton.

Appearance - Pours a copper brown with a finger of bubbly white head.

Smell - caramel malts, toffee, brown sugar, earthy hops, hint of dark fruits.

Taste - Sweet caramel malts followed by the toffee, brown sugar, earthy hops. The hint of dark fruits round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with light to moderate carobnation. Finishes with a pleasant sweetness.

Overall - A pleasant English brown ale. I like the sweetness of this brew from the caramel malts, toffee, and brown sugar. A nice complement to the Cascadian.