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USA
 scrapes in  decent  good  excellent  sublime
Anchor Brewing Co. (California) Anchor Steam Beer 
Anchor Steam (from bottle) was one of my favourite beers when I first came across it in San Francisco in the early 1990s. It is an amber ale with a creamy head, that has a fresh,
hoppy aroma with a hint of caramel. On the palate it is quite light and refreshing and
has a fruity mid-palate with a clean, dry finish with a bit of bite. Still a very good beer indeed, though perhaps a little less complex than 10 years ago?
35cl. 4.9%ABV. 
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Brooklyn Brewery, Black Chocolate Stout (USA)
Weighing in with a hefty 8.7 ABV, this is the first of a pair of chocolate beers. Brewed seasonally in winter only, this is the 03/04 release, imported by friends from the US. I have to say it is a sensational beer,
displaying much better balance than the Thornton's bottling also reviewed. The colour is jet black with a hint of ruby, and the head is a dark tan. On the nose it has a beautiful fruity quality layered with
more predictable chocolate, dark-roasted espresso and burnt grain notes. That fine fruity and hoppy aroma manages to hold its own. On the palate it is delightfully bitter and chocolaty, with burnt toast and sweet black cherry
playing against a lovely hoppy undertow and lots of solid plum and blackcurrant skin tang. Very long too, this is a must taste beer if you can track it down. 8.7% ABV, 35.5cl purchased in USA.
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Dixie Brewing Co. (Louisiana) Slow-brewed Beer
This New Orleans beer is aged in Louisiana Cypress wooden barrels. The nose is certainly very distinctive, with a slightly burnt plastic note that is intriguing, if not entirely appetising. There is a certain
grassy, herbal quality too, and a bit of caramel. On the palate that slightly odd plasticity continues, with a dry, lightly-flavoured style and moderately long, tangy finish. Certainly unusual
and has a definite style all of its own. 33cl. 4.5%ABV.
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Boston Beer Co (Massachusetts) Samuel Adams Lager
This lager has aquite a dark golden/amber colour and a cream-coloured head. It is aromatic and estery, with floral and vivid citrus notes over lots of caramel-coated malt and a nice, nettly hop quality. On the palate
it is quite resinous, with lots of wax and bitter hop flavours dominating. There is plenty of tang to this beer, with the creamy texture and dark, malt and biscuity character submerged by pithy acidity. My first taste of this, and I am
really quite impressed - a world removed from Bud and Miller. Waitrose at £1.39. 35.5cl. 4.8%ABV.
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Sierra Nevada Brewing (California) Pale Ale
There's a definite amber/red colour to this beer, and a nice creamy head. The nose is very inviting, with a citrussy orange-peel note, some spice and a hoppy, herbal quality. On the palate is is quite full-bodied,
with a pleasantly dry bitterness, and reallly quite complex layers of fruit, some malt and then a hoppy, almost grassy herbal finish. A beer I really enjoy in bottle or draught in the
USA, and now in Waitrose at £1.39. 35cl. 5.6%ABV.
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