Old Foghorn: Complexity that keeps Growing and Growing
Written: Apr 16 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Complexity; Full- Bodied and delicious!
Cons: VERY HIGH PRICE!!!
The Bottom Line: This is a world classic, ranking among the best barleywines known to man.
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Anchor Old Foghorn |
Barleywine is a sweeter style of beer that is usually fuller- bodied than the average brew and quite a bit stronger, in terms of alcoholic content. I have been sampling more barleywine than usual the last six months, following the repeal of Ohio’s alcohol limit law on malt beverages. My latest venture into the world of barleywine is one of the best- known brands of this product available. It’s Old Foghorn, a strong ale brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Old Foghorn pours to a deep copper color with a low level of foam. The aroma is sweet and candy- like, with scents of caramel and fruit billowing up from the glass below. There is a fairly active level of carbonation, but it fails to produce much head of foam. Ordinarily, a beer would lose points for appearance if it failed to foam up, but this is a common occurrence for this style.
A taste of Old Foghorn yields a very pleasant array of flavors. The sweet malt includes taste sensations of vanilla, bread, orange, caramel, pear, plums, etc. Each sip produced more and more unique flavors, like grapes, grapefruit, spice, and others. The beer finishes with a hoppy/peppery/alcoholic bite that helps to balance out the sweetness. I noticed that the sensation of alcohol doesn’t last very long on the palate after drinking. It is quickly replaced with the aftertaste of sweet, delicious malt.
Anchor brews this product using two – row barley malt, ale yeast, and Cascade hops. The mixture is then dry- hopped with an additional dose of Cascades while it ages. The alcohol level of this beer is between 8 and 10 percent by volume (I’m not sure of the exact level because different sources provide different numbers, but I know that it’s between these two levels).
Food Compatibility:
Barleywine is mostly a sweet style of beer, and this product is no exception. Usually, a sweet beer can be paired up with sweet dessert foods and I suppose that Old Foghorn could probably be matched up with a sugary, fruity dessert. However, like other barleywine, I think this product is best consumed all by itself, as an after- dinner beverage. It’s the type of drink that you will want to sip and enjoy, without any interference from food. You wouldn’t want the taste of food covering up all the complex flavors that Old Foghorn offers.
Final Thoughts:
Old Foghorn is a delicious malt- beverage to savor! It’s full of complex flavors and it seems to get better and better with each passing sip. I first tried this beer many years ago when I was vacationing in California. I didn’t see any bottles show up on the shelves of my favorite beverage store until late in 2002, when the state of Ohio repealed its goofy alcohol limit law on beer.
If you have tried other products from the Anchor Brewing Company, you already know that the company uses generous amounts of Cascade hops in its signature product, Liberty Ale. Old Foghorn is made in a similar fashion. In fact, I think it would be safe to describe Old Foghorn as a heavier, fuller- bodied version of Liberty Ale. Many of the taste characteristics are the same between the two brands of beer. The difference is that Old Foghorn has flavors that are even more intense, more complex, and more noticeable.
One bad thing about Old Foghorn, and one thing that might cause potential customers to change their minds about making a purchase, is the high price of this beer. It’s sold in 7 oz. bottles at a price of about $14.00 per six- pack! Doing the math, this works out to an incredible 33 cents per ounce, which is the equivalent of paying almost $24 for a six- pack of 12 oz. bottles! That alone could scare many people away from trying Old Foghorn. My recommendation is to see if you can purchase single bottles at your favorite beverage store. I can buy them singly where I shop, at a price of $3.00 per 7oz. bottle. This is still high, of course, but it makes it more economical to give the beer a try.
Old Foghorn is an historically significant beer, too. Strong ales of this sort were brewed in pre- prohibition America, but they fizzled out completely after the evil prohibition experiment came to an end. In 1975, Anchor revived the barleywine style by producing Old Foghorn. Today, many craft brewers offer this style, although many are quite hard to find.
This beer is a must for any beer lover to try. With so many complex flavors, delicious two- row malt, and yummy Cascade hops, Old Foghorn Barleywine is a taste sensation. It’s the type of beer that stands out in your memory, among the world’s finest malt beverages!
Recommended:
Yes
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