Bought some New Albion on the way home. The significance of it makes me think of the time when SNPA made its way to Indiana. I was in my early/mid 20s, and it changed me forever, in terms of what beer was or could be. Not long after, my Dad bought me a couple homebrew kits as a birthday present, complete with the yeast packets taped to the lids of the two cans. And the obsession was on !
As for the beer - it’s a simple recipe. 2 row, Cascade, mildly fruity ale yeast. But it’s good beer. I’m a lifelong beer geek, but not so much so that I can’t appreciate beer that’s not a RIS or IIPA ( and I love those). I wasn’t drinking in 1976 when this beer originally came out but,remembering what SNPA tasted like for the 1st time in 1991 or 2, I can imagine what this beer did to get the ball rolling. Cheers Jack!
Enjoyed two of these on the golf course today. Very tasty SMASH beer. Most likely before that was even a thought.
I agree its a well-made beer, and certainly if having it in 1976 when Cascade was only a dish detergent to most, I would have probably been blown away to know beer can taste like that.
As a fellow appreciator of session beers, I do love me a well-balanced but hoppy APA. However, I find this beer really pithy and lacking in any malt character to balance the hops. In fact, I actually dumped about a 1/2 pint of it last night (my 2nd last of the six pack I bought to try it).
Not meaning to take anything away from the original brewer, as this an Anchor are in a weird way responsible for this forum existing, but just not my bag (baby).
I think this is a solid APA. I bought a six and enjoyed them all. I will not go out of my way to buy this beer but if I see it on tap I’m in.