| In 1965, Fritz Maytag, heir to a home appliance manufacturing fortune, purchased a dying brewery. Over the following decades, Maytag resurrected Anchor Brewing in San Francisco by doing what conventional wisdom dictated was insane – he pulled his beer from the pubs. He didn't pull it from all the pubs, mind you, just those that were serving his beer in a manner unsatisfactory to him.
At a time when macro-breweries were rapidly consolidating, there was an all-out war to win taps in pubs. But Maytag refused to join that war. He focused not on selling as much beer as possible, but on restoring Anchor's reputation for flawless and flavourful beer. If he viewed a pub as spoiling that reputation, by serving old beer or by serving the beer through dirty lines, he would literally cut those lines and take his beer back. As a result of this uncompromising passion for quality, many view Maytag as the father of the modern craft beer movement.
While we’ve been able to get Anchor's flagship product, Steam Beer, in Alberta for a couple of years, and while a special shipment of Anchor's annual Christmas Ale made it to these parts last year, their best product, Liberty Ale, has only recently become available.
Liberty Ale was first brewed on April 18, 1975 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's historic ride announcing the impending arrival of the British. It is perhaps the greatest example of an American-style India Pale Ale (IPA) and is the most glorious display of the American-grown Cascade hop.
IPA is a historic beer style. It was first brewed by the British for shipment to colonies in India. In those pre-sanitation times, water was often suspect, but beer, having been boiled in its manufacture, was always safe and was sent for consumption in faraway lands. To survive the long journey, IPA was brewed strong and was heavily hopped (hop resins are a natural preservative). At the time, all British beers were ales and low in carbonation. Pale ales, including IPAs, were copper in colour, being the palest of the beers available at the time.
Thus, contrary to what one popular brewer would have you believe, IPA is not an insipid, highly carbonated yellow lager drunk by spilly-talkers – although it is true that those who like genuine IPA do, indeed, like it a lot.
Anchor Liberty Ale is a prime example of genuine IPA. Although it pours with an amazing, sponge-like head, the lack of bubbles rising through the beer is evidence of a low level of carbonation. The beer itself is deep gold with a hint of orange. While the nose of the beer is moderate in strength, it is dominated by the pine and citric hop aromas characteristic of the American-grown Cascade hop, the only hop variety used in brewing this beer. Indeed, Liberty Ale is credited with being the first to use this hop variety for flavour and aroma (it had previously been used solely for bittering). Today, the Cascade hop is virtually synonymous with Pacific Northwest pale ale.
Despite being 5.9 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume), the flavour of the beer is light- to medium-bodied. There is a hint of sweetness at the beginning to accompany an instant balancing bitterness. The flavour is full of hops with a very noticeable floral quality starting in the middle and lasting through the lingering finish. While many hops have a citric quality, it is particularly strong in the Cascade hop; drinking Liberty Ale reminds me of eating orange slices straight off the rind.
Liberty Ale is available in 650 ml bottles at fine liquor stores throughout Calgary. |
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