Anchor Brewing Company: Big Leaf Maple

Anchor Brewing Company was the first important microbrewery in the United States. In 1965 Frederick Louis Maytag III used his Maytag money to purchase a majority stake in Anchor Brewing, and spent almost six years learning how to brew and the importance of cleanliness when making beer. Maytag saved Anchor from going belly up and turned around the beer movement in California with their signature beer, Anchor Steam. However; in 2010 Maytag sold Anchor to two for Skyy Vodka executives who are hoping to keep Anchor Brewing alive with new styles and some new beers. Their new fall seasonal is Big Leaf Maple Red Ale, made with maple syrup produced from the aforementioned tree. Big Leaf Maple Trees are not the ideal source for maple syrup, as the taste is slightly different from other maple syrup and it takes almost thirty-five gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. But Anchor plowed ahead and pumped some maple syrup into this beer creating a nice sweet finish from an all together excellent beer.
Big Leaf Maple pours a beautiful amber with a nice but thin head. The smell is all strong, piney hops. The taste though is a nice blend of pine and caramel blended together beautifully. The beer sips very easily with consistent wash of bitter and sweet, with a dry finish that leaves a touch of sweet in the back of the throat. It's nice to get some hops in an Autumn beer after wave after wave of oktoberfests. Definitely coming back to this guy again soon.