Mission Street Anniversary Ale

This year’s Mission St. Anniversary Ale showcases complex malt flavors with roasty notes layered in and medium hop character. It is a blend of three incredible brews carefully blended for maximum aroma and flavor. We affectionately call this brew an Imperial Brown Ale.

3.5

223 reviews

Monrovia, United States

Community reviews

3.3 This year’s Mission St. Anniversary Ale showcases complex malt flavors with roasty notes layered in and medium hop character. It is a blend of three incredible brews carefully blended for maximum aroma and flavor. We affectionately call this brew an Imperial Brown Ale.

3.7 22oz bomber pours with a deep amber body that supports a tan head of foam. The aroma offers up firm levels of prunes, raisins, brown sugar and date notes. Smells of sweet dark fruity esters. The taste is similar with brown sugar, a dash of burnt brown sugar and then a big load of sweet dark fruity esters like prunes, raisins and dates as well as a thin ring of black strap molasses. This is pretty big on the fruity side.

3.4 pours plum amber, minimal head. sweetness, burnt sugar, plums, cherry. sliky body.

3.6 Bottle. Pours deep brown. Nose is soft caramelly malts and light herbal hops. Quite malt forward with rich caramel flavors rounded out by mild notes of roasted coffee and some sweet residual sugariness which borders on cloying and simplistic and draws away from the potential complexity of this brew i.e. lacks the kind of burbon or sherry depth that characterizes the best strong beers. Finish has nicely assertive hop bitterness. A big beer that feels raw, but is an interesting take on a strong brown ale.

2.7 good color, great head, aroma decent after pour. almost porter tasting but better. the best mission by far

3.5 Despite it being a blend of three brews, this didn’t seem all that complex. Still, it was tasty, and that’s what really matters. It had a bubbly, clear mahogany body with a tan head and some uneven lacing. The aroma was rich and malty, not too sweet, with floral and citrus scents. It tasted of lightly roasted malts, some bittersweet chocolate and dark fruit, a mild bitterness, and a splash of alcohol. Nice.

3.8 22 oz. bottle from Trader Joe’s, Virginia Beach, VA. Pours the expected dark brown given the description on the bottle. Little is detected from the aroma other than some ripe banana and graham cracker. The flavor is a bit more complex featuring chocolate, roasted coffee, black licorice, toffee, graham cracker, brown sugar, and light floral hops. The warmth is greater than expected given the ABV is only 8.5%. Finishes bold with bitter chocolate and espresso lingering on the palate even though the carbonation removes some of what would be a more overwhelming bitterness. A really good beer and certainly a great price.

4.8 Bottle from trader jack’s. Aromas of caramel and cinnamon. Taste is sweet and bitter, very long length.

3.1 caramel, coffee, toast, roasty, herbs, cheese, brown, black, tan foam, medium bitterness, light sweetness, chewy. umami, medium body, creamy, average carbonation, woody aftertaste

3.6 Aroma of roasted malt and cocoa. Taste is a bit sweeter than a brown but there is some hop balance as well. Full flavored nice brown. Alcohol is masked, does not taste imperial

3.4 Tallahassee, Fl - Trader Joe’s - 22 oz bomber. Deep dark brown pour with a medium thick khaki colored head, decent lacing. Aroma has some light toffee, licorice and caramel accents. Flavor is leaning to the sweet side with some licorice accents, a touch of toffee, some nuttiness and a wee bit of alcohol. Mouthfeel has a nice texture to it. Not outstanding in any one area, but all around a good solid brew - especially for $3.49

3.3 Aroma of chocolate, dark fruits, and basement aromas also. Hints of alcohol also in the nose. Dark brown pour with a light tan head. RIch roasted sweetness heavy up front. Smokey caramel, with hints of dark fruit. Finishes with a dry bitterness and some alcohol burn. Nice showing.

3.4 Nice label, bomber, plastic shrouded cap. Coffee black-brown, short frogs’ eggs ivory-tan head. Pruney roast aroma. Boozy up front, a fuddled flavor like a dubbel without Belgian yeast - candied, pruney, roast. Metal on the lips. Coffee here and there. $3.49 makes this a reasonable purchase, but the beer can hardly be described as ’deft’. TJ’s, Tallahassee, 2014 rendition.

2.3 Poured from a bomber into a dimpled mug, deep brown with no head, the aroma is malt with not much else, the taste is sweet upfront with malt and then falls apart with a sharp taste some what soapy, could have been good but really bad on the back end.

2.7 2014 release Bomber bottle from TJs. Pours brown, minimal head. Faint aroma of alcohol. Taste is sweet roasted malt. Bit of a fizz or a booze burn at the bake. It’s not the worst TJs sells, but it’s nothing to seek out.

3.3 2 Jan 2014, bottle. brown and faintly cloudy. nose is dark toast and acidic. thin body and fizzy. sweet, meaty, ovaltine, maple syrup. pretty good.

3.3 May 10th, 2013 - Mission St. is a brand forward by Trader Joe. Why they don’t directly brand this Firestone Walker for what it is is a question best saved for MBA and business types. As a beer drinker, though, I like what’s inside. I wasn’t a fan of previous Mission St. goods, but this steps up the game. The aroma is hoppy yet runs with veins of chocolate, and some dark cherry and sassafras notes. And the flavor is predictably deep and sweet. Dark cherry, brown sugar and booze produce the core of the flavor, which cascade off into a long aftertaste of dubbel style yeasty tastes: cheese, old dry wood, and other goods. In general all the tastes come off as clumsy, but good. The constituent bits and pieces are solid, but the connective tissue is just a bit weak. February 27th, 2012 - The special edition, temporally sensitive beers at Trader Joe’s have really been hit or miss. The Mission Street 2012 falls somewhere between this range, which has varied from “Undrinkable, and a burden to TJ’s brand” to “Who needs other beers when I can have this for $5 per bomber?” It pours a deep dark brown, and immediately gives off a light scent of maple syrup, and the familiar caramelized malt scents that are stapled onto every dark, winter warmer beer being pushed onto shelves. The flavor is much improved over the aroma, adding layers of complexity between raisins, a light, freshly cut wood smell, and the umami cheese rind flavor that I savor in dubbels. This would be a remarkable beer-on-tongue achievement if it weren’t for the palate and mouthfeel, which completely collapse under the weight of the flavors presented. This beer comes off as light, pale and frail, though it features deeper, more intense tastes. It’s like seeing a Yaris carrying a truck’s worth of cargo on the roof, the weight and volume of which make the whole thing look like an upside down pyramid, beginning with the grand piano swaying precariously on the pile of possessions, and narrowing down to the over-strained, over-work car. It’s a tortured metaphor, but it’s how this beer feels - flimsy, and unable to hold the weight of itself.

3.2 Bottle shared at Max’s. Pours a deep amber body with thin off white lacing. Aroma is chocolate malt and pine resin. Mouthfeel is medium with notes of booze, sweet caramel malt and resin.

3.6 From bottle. 2013 vintage. Deep almost black in color. Aroma is fig, roasting, and liquor. Taste is dark malt, fig/plum, chocolate, and liquor. Finishes with a boozy dark aftertaste and warming effect.

3.6 Bottle - pours out dark brown with small foamy head. Nose mostly of malt, caramel, and syrup. Smooth mouthfeel. Taste is of sweet malt and maple syrup. Would prefer more hops to balance out the sweetness.

3.2 Bottle. Pours a dark red/brown with almost no head. Aromas of roasted malt and caramel. Flavors of caramel, light chocolate and malts, with a bit of dark fruit and banana. Thin amount of cream though alcohol is not well hidden.

3.5 Shared Ron’s bottle. Dark cider color,very hazy, minor film on top of beer. Candy corn, dark fruit, plums, in the nose. Syrupy mouthfeel. Lots of sugars tasted. Barley wine like, needs a bit more bite, still, it was decent.

4.2 2012 Bottle. Pours a clear amber with medium off white head. The aroma is a bready malt, caramel, and roast. Medium mouthfeel with strong caramel and vanilla flavor and nice sweet finish. Very good.

3.4 Pours a dark amber with a thin tan head. Aroma has light candied fruits and earthy hops. Flavor follows suit and adds notes of caramel and vanilla...touch of raisins. Mouthfeel is light and the finish is earthy/hoppy with a touch of candied fruit. Meh.

3.7 Bottle, 22oz. 2013 vintage. A hazy one, dark brown in color and with a dense, finger-thick off-white to light beige head on top. Quite malty on the palate, with caramel, nuts, some roasted malts and a little touch of alcohol and prunes. Quite pleasant mouthfeel, some warmth and a nice carbonation level, full body. Roasted notes, caramel, some dried fruits and nuts, and a touch of chocolate and toffee in the flavor. Pleasant bitterness too, growing stronger towards the lightly sweetish and alcohol warm finish. Overall, perhaps a bit sweet, but there’s enough bitterness and alcohol to support it. Overall, a pleasant and tasteful beer, not your everyday sipper, but one to go with a hearthy meat stew or just relax in your favorite chair with. 103821

3.6 Bottle 650ml @ Hotel Room, Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Pours hazy reddish brown with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, biscuit and chocolate. Taste is medium to heavy sweet and light to medium bitter with a long chocolate and caramel finish. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

3.5 Bottle. Pours brown work a tan head. Aroma of malt, toasted grains, caramel, red apples and fruitiness. Flavor is set and malty with caramel, hints of coffee and chocolate, brown sugar, yeast and fruitiness. Medium body, average carbonation.

3.8 Bomber. Pours a somewhat cloudy mahogany color with a small white head. A big fruity malty nose. The flavor is caramel, figs, smoke, some big brown malt, earthy, more dark fruit. Light heat. Quite nice.

3.4 Shared 2013 bomber, poured to snifters with a hazed, brown tone, tan head foam, and light spots & streaks of lacing. The nose was some roastiness, maltiness, caramel, dark fruit as prune, and light, brown sugar sweetness. Medium bodied, the taste presented similar notes as the aroma, with an added touch of molasses. Would have hoped for more liveliness to the effervesence to perk up the body, flavor notes, and texture a bit.

3.3 2013. Dark Brown, Huge Bubbly Head, Good Amount of Lacing. Faint Pine and Malt Aroma. Taste is Malt, Some Caramel, Toasted, Slight Alcohol Zing. Probably OK for what it is , although it is not my style. Just OK for Me. --- 2014. Hazy Reddish Copper Brown Color, Short Lasting Medium Head, Decent Web Of Lacing. Sweet Dried Fruit And Malt Aroma. Malt, Dried Fruit, Slight Booze Burn. Still American Strong, Not Imperial Brown. Quite Decent, Although I would Not Make it a Regular Go To Brew. OK. Decent To Try...