The Bar Towel

I thought the Humming Ale was weird.. it might've been whatever else I had been drinking, but I'm not sure the Nelson Sauvin hops really work on their own.

American pale ales often have a piny or citrus flavour, which is almost mandatory, but this one's just fruity... more-so than citra.

It adds an interesting dimension with other hops, but I just found it odd on it's own in the APA. Have I pigeon-holed that style? I dunno... but I think it'd be great in a Blond Belgian.

I actually loved the small beer. It's the second running from their barley wine, and it's only 3.3%. It'd be GREAT to session on a patio.

Derek wrote:This old school SMaSH is nothing but 2-row and cascade (47 IBU?). It would've been a real eye opener in '75, but I'm surprised it still gets so much love?

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/liberty_ale

Simple pleasures?

I had a bottle of this tonight and was really underwhelmed. Is it my imagination or has more than the packaging changed?

The beer used to have an orange hue to it..which is gone..its now straight up copper. And the taste and nose seem one dimensional..purely cascade.

Derek, I know the link says the beer is just two row..but there is some caramel sweetness in the body of the beer..I am skeptical that that this is/always was a smash.

Thoughts?

Ralphus wrote:

Derek wrote:This old school SMaSH is nothing but 2-row and cascade (47 IBU?). It would've been a real eye opener in '75, but I'm surprised it still gets so much love?

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/liberty_ale

Simple pleasures?

I had a bottle of this tonight and was really underwhelmed. Is it my imagination or has more than the packaging changed?

The beer used to have an orange hue to it..which is gone..its now straight up copper. And the taste and nose seem one dimensional..purely cascade.

Derek, I know the link says the beer is just two row..but there is some caramel sweetness in the body of the beer..I am skeptical that that this is/always was a smash.

Thoughts?

Hmm. I always found this beer to be very grassy/herbal with medium bitterness and little sweetness. It was usually very dry, and I always found it to be on the lighter side of the colour scale. I hope it hasnt changed.

My bottles always drink bright and fresh with a golden-amber hue, but it's important to keep in mind that the flavour profile of this beer is closer to an APA than a US IPA. You probably just got a bad sixer (happens to the best of them).

Ralphus wrote: Derek, I know the link says the beer is just two row..but there is some caramel sweetness in the body of the beer..I am skeptical that that this is/always was a smash.

Thoughts?

A bit of caramelizing from the copper kettle?

What Michael said in '92:
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000067.html

That's entirely possible.

Good link btw. Looks like I must have been imagining the orange hue as there is no mention of it there. I went back and checked my BA review from a few years back and I don't reference it there either.

So much for my memory! :)

Liberty Ale is on sale at the LCBO for $11.75 per sixer until Aug. 19.

Drinking a Liberty that I picked up out of a singles bin last week, and it's just as excellent as I remember it being. Colour might be a touch lighter, but aroma and flavour are spot on. Yum!

Bought an on-sale 6-pack: 5 were gushers and all were - what I suspect - victims of oxidization. Shame, I really like this when it's on. Would love to see it re-stocked as the big-ass single bottles

I've had 4 bottles of Liberty ale that were just fine from one of these LTO 6-packs. Solid APA in my opinion. The price difference really is negligible, plus they may have incrreased prices on bombers in the couple years since they were available - At $3.95 for a 650ml versus $13.25 for a 6 pack it works out to a difference of about 14 cents/litre

jaymack wrote:Bought an on-sale 6-pack: 5 were gushers and all were - what I suspect - victims of oxidization. Shame, I really like this when it's on. Would love to see it re-stocked as the big-ass single bottles

Sorry to hear that. Odd. I've gone through at least 24-30 bottles of it this summer and all were wonderful!

Lordy, Lordy, look who's 40 this year!