Anchor Liberty Ale - 40 years old this year!

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by BeerVikingSailor, Jan 7, 2015.

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  1. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Yeah, that's a perfect analogy (well, except ol' Henry owned his own assembly plants...:grinning:.).

    Wow, you really put Maytag's significance to the craft beer at 0.56%? :rolling_eyes: I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find quotes from most of the early "micro brewers" that credit Maytag and Anchor for inspiration and, for the local west coasters, advice and help.

    Jim Schleuter (River City Brewing) had worked for Schlitz, Bert Grant has worked for big brewers (and hop companies) in the US and Canada, as had Joe Owades (Rheingold, Carling, AB) and Bill Moeller (Horlacher, Ortlieb, Schmidt's).
     
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  2. otispdriftwood

    otispdriftwood Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Colorado



    I stand humbly corrected.
     
  3. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
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    That is a pretty good one. Do keep in mind, though, that Matthew Reich of New Amsterdam pioneered the contract-brewing business model prior to Samuel Adams having greater success with it. I'm not sure how that affects the analogy at that point...
     
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  4. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    That'd make Reich the Ransom Olds of craft brewing. They both even sell out (to Matt and GM, respectively) and their brands are both eventually discontinued.
     
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  5. BeerVikingSailor

    BeerVikingSailor Grand Pooh-Bah (3,593) Nov 19, 2009 Ohio
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    Yes.....I agree with that, to an extent

    But Maytag resurrected a dying brewery in San Francisco, days before it was going to close, and did some pretty major things that no one like him had done before....and it worked....amazingly!

    I originally posted this thread as it seems like many in the young craft drinking world (yes, I am old, and have been drinking beer, before it was known as "craft", for many decades!) do not know (or care sadly) how all this got started....Anchor Liberty Ale and Anchor Brewing in general, should be venerated for what they have accomplished over these many years.

    Can we credit also Charlie Papazian (and yes, I have a well read copy of his homebrewing book!) and early home brewers with helping kick start all this? Sure....but let's give Anchor and Liberty Ale their 15 minutes, shall we?
     
  6. BeerVikingSailor

    BeerVikingSailor Grand Pooh-Bah (3,593) Nov 19, 2009 Ohio
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  7. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)

    Well, there were many other people who carried the ball that has become the craft beer victory. It wasn't just McAuliffe, Grossman & Camusi, Boulder Brewing. There were companies that didn't make it, like Cartwright (came out of a winery), Steam Beer Brewery (ditto), River City, New Amsterdam and many others. Some had home-brewed, but not all. I'm pretty sure New Amsterdam's president, called Matthew Reich I think, hadn't. Jim Koch hadn't. Had Garrett Oliver home-brewed before working at Manhattan Brewing Company? Maybe. Anyway it was a bunch of disparate people.
     
  8. otispdriftwood

    otispdriftwood Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Colorado


    All correct but a child has but one mother.
     
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  9. BeerVikingSailor

    BeerVikingSailor Grand Pooh-Bah (3,593) Nov 19, 2009 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Amen, brother
     
  10. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    True and you always know who the mother is. The father is another story.
     
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  11. BeerVikingSailor

    BeerVikingSailor Grand Pooh-Bah (3,593) Nov 19, 2009 Ohio
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  12. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)

    Well that's it. Lots of influences here. Homebrewing was an important one, not the only one.
     
  13. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)


    All this is true but my point is the effect on the consumer. I tried New Amsterdam and many of the early beers mentioned. So did countless others. They helped form the market for craft beer. The people who didn't stay the course are as important as those who did in this sense. This is why Jim Koch helped reissue New Albion some years back. In fact, maybe Anchor would consider reissuing that dark '75 version of Liberty Ale! That would be a hoot. I don't think it would though because apparently it used some sugar.
     
  14. Mark

    Mark Initiate (0) Jun 18, 2001 California

     
  15. Mark

    Mark Initiate (0) Jun 18, 2001 California

    Had some just a couple of days ago and it's as tasty as ever. Anchor is iconic and special. I grew up in S.F. and have visited the brewery.
     
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  16. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    1971 was the first year it was bottled, but obviously Anchor Steam Beer (of various recipes) dates back to the founding of the brewing company using that name in the 1890s.

    How do you know that? Lots of dry-hopped beers in the US existed before Liberty Ale and the hop schedule is unknown for most of them but, given the much fewer hop varieties available in the past, it is likely many of the dry-hopped US beers might have been single hopped.

    I don't know - I have a lot of respect for the now-retired Fritz Maytag, but the new owners seems to be playing fast and loose with US brewing history with all these claims of some of the Anchor beers being the "first modern American ____ brewed after prohibition...".

    What does that even mean? How are they defining "modern" if they also say "after prohibition"? If they mean by it "the craft era", well - that is kinda redundant since Maytag's Anchor defines the beginning of the craft era.

    But if "modern" is post-Repeal, there were a couple dozen American IPAs, many more Stock Ales and other dry-hopped ales (and a few lagers) and US porters probably numbering over a hundred brewed in the US after the passage of the 21st Amendment.

    Anchor Brewing Co. has an important and unique place in US brewing history - seems to me some of their current exaggerated claims are gilding the lily.
     
  17. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)


    Anchor's Liberty Ale was the first commercial ale I believe hopped with Cascade unless some cream ales of the era got in earlier, but the '75 commemorative one was dry-hopped and had a potent character. Henry Weinhard Private Reserve, a lager, also had a prominent Cascade aroma, and I'm not sure if it preceded Liberty Ale or not.
     
  18. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)


    I tend to agree about the ads. I think the porter's real significance is being all-malt, actually, calling it the first modern commercially-made all-malt porter would be accurate I think.
     
  19. Hodgson

    Hodgson Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2014 Canada (ON)

    By the way, it is interesting to read the late Jim Robertson's descriptions of Liberty Ale and the Our Special Ales which inspired it in his 1983 edition of The Connoisseur's Guide To Beer. The wording he uses shows how revolutionary was the taste introduced by this beer as well as SNPA of course, also reviewed in the book. In general, he uses terms like "opening a can of lychee", "floral", "citrus". You can tell by reading his words how different these beers were from the mass of American lagers reviewed in the book but also the numerous imports reviewed. I would never think to call Liberty Ale in the vein of lychee but when you think about it, that fruity, "preserved" (the alcohol) taste kind of fits the bill.
     
  20. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I would love to drink a re-creation of the 1975 version of Liberty Ale (including sugar if it was used then). The current head brewer of Anchor, Mark Carpenter, formulated that first Liberty Ale and I am sure he could accurately recreate it. That would be an excellent idea as a 40th anniversary celebration of Liberty Ale.

    Cheers to the 1975 version of Liberty Ale!
     
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