Anchor Our Special Ale (2001 and earlier)

Formerly brewed at Anchor Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
San Francisco, California USA

Brune très foncée. Mousse brunâtre peu abondante. Forte odeur d’épices. Très mince en bouche. Goût de fumé. Très effervescente à l’attaque avec une pointe d’amertume.

Magnum bottle (1998). Purchased in 12/06 at Brickskellar in Washington, DC. Pours a dark, bubbly brown with a toasted head. Smells a little vinuous, malt, spicy. Taste is spicy, heavy caramel malt, and also soy sauce. Probably a little past its prime, but a nice treat nevertheless. Love the spices and the high ABV (well, it is now). Merry Christmas.

Magnum bottle( 1999) : Still holds a firm spicy aroma and flavor that suprised me. Has lot of the same spice as do the recent OSA’s but also gives off a old cardboard taste that didn’t bother me to much. Still had a nice foaming of head considering its age while the color remained the same undaunting dark opaque brown. Aged extremely well and held up tough.

A 1999 vintage bottle opened on 11/25/06 - 50.7 oz. bottle – dark dull brown – light brown head – a ton of sediment – nose of old potpourri , malt , orange zest , brine , and sulfur – taste is soft malts , chocolates , spicy , and nutmeg – soft body – aftertaste semi menthol and chocolate

From a 12oz Bottle, 1991 Vintage. Pours a dark rootbeer brown color with a nice transparency and a surprisingly full layer of cream head considering its age. Aromas of molasses, spiced figs, raisins, and freshly baked oatmeal cookie waft from the glass. Gingerbread, prunes - overall a lot of dark fruits and spice characters. Medium bodied mouthfeel with very little carbonation - really not a suprise due to the age, but a touch disappointing after producing a rather nice head. Flavors are a bit thin, but the malt character is still quite pleasant. A touch raisiny with a hint of ginger and pumpernickel bread, but otherwise the flavors have become a bit watery and flat. Very subtle minty hop note detected in the final smack. A very interesting sensory experience overall - the aroma is still quite nice and the flavors, while a bit thin, are still holding there own considering the age.

1991. Aroma is incredibly peculiar, with woodly light molasses and edges of seasoned, seared pig fat. Light floral, tending towards lavender. Pour of beautifully clear mahogany, with orange fringes and a ruby core. Rim of whitish. This actually built a bit of a head at 15 years, and had a distant wisp of excruciatingly perfusive carbonation. the woody and smoky tones dominate in the flavor. A really long draw of old apple pipe tobacco. Thehops have gotten a little strange, maybe a touch disoriented. However, a subtle minty and leafily chocolate tone in the smack lead me to believe Northern Brewer played a role in this beer. As with all OSAs (at least for me) a bit soapy in the final spicing. I’m ecstatic to have tasted a nicely aging vintage beer. Almost perfectly dry at this point. Fading away, I get a wisp of esoteric, little known indian spices and some Tellicherry black pepper. Quite nice, to me.

99’ Chocolate and dark fruits in the nose with. Pouring dark brown with a fringe of fine carbonation. Chocolate, raisons, and prunes. A touch thin in the mouth but not too bad after 7 years.

Bottled. 1998 version. Yum! Very dark brown with little head. This was very round and soft with strong notes of dark fruits. Very nice.