cgeiger@ut-ngp.UUCP (Charles S. Geiger, Esq.) (03/12/86)
I need some help. A friend of mine is going to San Francisco at the end of the month, and she has promised to buy me a six-pack of boutique beer while she's there. The last time this happened, I asked for Anchor Porter, which was good but tasted a lot like Tooth Sheaf, which we can get here, and besides, April-October is a very bad time to drink stout or porter in Austin (unless you enjoy drinking dark, chewy liquids in 80 degree-plus weather)! Does anyone have any suggestions on what she should get? By the way, we can already get Anchor Steam and all the Sierra Nevada products here. cheers, from charles s. geiger u. of texas
jin@hropus.UUCP (Bear) (03/14/86)
Liberty Ale and Christmas Ale, both from Anchor. I know its a few months past Christmas (or quite a few before) but the Ale ages quite well, I drank the 1984 Ale in December 1985 and it tasted great, quite hoppy but more to the fruity side than bitter (took me by surprise), medium body. -- Jerry Natowitz ihnp4!houxm!hropus!jin (official) ihnp4!opus!jin (temporary) Institute for the Study of Non-existent Phenomena
mark@sickkids.UUCP (Mark Bartelt ) (03/18/86)
> I need some help. A friend of mine is going to San Francisco at the > end of the month, and she has promised to buy me a six-pack of boutique > beer while she's there. The last time this happened, I asked for > Anchor Porter, which was good but tasted a lot like Tooth Sheaf, which > we can get here, and besides, April-October is a very bad time to drink > stout or porter in Austin (unless you enjoy drinking dark, chewy > liquids in 80 degree-plus weather)! Does anyone have any suggestions > on what she should get? > > By the way, we can already get Anchor Steam and all the Sierra Nevada > products here. > > > cheers, from > > charles s. geiger > u. of texas My favourite California beer, back when I was still living there (until mid-1982) was New Albion ale. At the time, it was often hard to find in southern California, where I lived; it's made up north somewhere, so it may be easier to find in the SF area. In any case, it's definitely worth looking for. It was also frightfully expensive (around $1.50 per bottle, I recall). It was a really "natural" approach to brewing: Apparently little or none of whatever the beermaking equivalent of filtering and fining is called; one would usually find a sediment of yeast sitting in the bottom of the bottle. One problem (which they may have remedied by now) was bottle variation from lot to lot. Usually the beer was quite excellent, but occasionally it wasn't really up to snuff, and on one occasion it was quite obviously spoiled. The beer isn't pasteurized, and is supposed to be kept refrigerated, so poor handling might account for the bad lot. But if your friend brings some back, it would probably be best if she could find a way to keep it cool. I seem to recall that New Albion also made a porter and a stout, both of which were good, but neither of which I found as delightful as the ale.