Grant's Anvil Head Ale Beer Review

Anvil Head Ale

Review Date 5/23/2004

Try? Re-buy?

Bert Grant may be gone now, but his legacy lives on in the form of the Yakima Washington Brewery that bears his name. Grants ales are still widely available, and they’re still rather popular among beer enthusiasts, myself included. Of late, the brewery has been receiving accolades for its seasonal brews, including the somewhat original Mandarin Hefeweizen and Lazy Days Pale Ale .

The latter beer recently won a gold medal in the English Style Summer Ale category at the World Beer Cup. Now, before you get all excited about that impressive sounding title, it should be know that the World Beer Cup is not exactly this Guru of Brew’s idea of an organization that should be handing out such titles.

I’ve always had issues with some of the decisions these guys make. Case in point, the number of categories they create like English Style Summer Ale. That just lets them hand out more medals. Still, Lazy Days is a pretty good beer, and it has something in common with the beer under consideration today, Anvil Head Ale. Both are hopped with the Amarillo varietal, which Grant’s seems to be pretty fond of.

Anvil Head is the spring seasonal for Grant’s, and it’s a robust and hoppy pale ale that is both dry-hopped and unfiltered. The dry hopping, or conditioning on whole hops, normally adds a distinctive aromatic quality to the brew. Using Amarillos, a good aroma hop similar to the Cascade, adds even more.

Grant’s Anvil Head Ale pours to an orange amber color with a thick, rocky head formation and a slightly citric hop nose. The palate is chewy with a touch of caramel, and starts the beer out as a nice malty amber ale. A touch of fruit sneaks into the picture along with a touch of chocolate and a dry nutty character.

In the finish, a gentle grassy-citric hop aroma emerges, then yields to a gentle, lingering hop bitterness. There’s a nice balance between hops and malt here that make this beer full bodied yet very drinkable. It’s nicely suited to cool spring nights, but Anvil head is just fine in my book on warm summer nights, too.

As I said, this is a seasonal, so grab it while it’s available. I think its well worth trying, and does Bert Grant proud. It showcases the Amarillo nicely, which is something the brewer intended. Why not pound a few down today and see for yourself?

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

(G)=Growler

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