Anchor Our Special Ale (2001 and earlier)

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

Thanks for Sharing, Kevin. Sampled in January of 2006. The body is dark brown and ruby with a light tan colored head. The aroma has charcoal and toffee. There is also some apples, cinnamon and gnger. The taste is apples with cinnamon. There is also some chocoalte and oranges.

2000 bottle shared with Poperinge. Five years may be past its prime. Still looked nice in the glass. Aroma of pine. Flavour is a bit toward the mediciny side. The pine is still strong but the other expected flavours seem to have beed aged out.

Pours a deep dark brown (almost black) color. Aromas of ginger, chocolate, coffee. Flavor has hints of gingerbread, mild chocolate, and a coffee like aftertaste.

a bottle of special ale from xmas ’97! consumed xmas time ’05.thick, smokey ,salty smell, like the bay. fruity, fermented barleywine like aroma. black ruby color with a beautiful khaki head. very smooth and robust at the same time that only slow ageing can yeild. lots if malted chocolisciousness with a teeny zip of licorice. a greatly aged ale consumed in it’s prime!

On Tap at Flying Saucer, called it the Christmas, but didn’t specify an age, I assumed it was a 2005. WOw, this thing was SWEET. Lots of flavor, but too much in my mind. Too much of something, though I can’t put my finger on it. Lots of cinimon, ginger, clove, spices, bananna, prunes/figs, bubble gum, etc. All flavors seemed to be sweet.

1991
Seems lighter mahoganey than newer versions. Large creamy light-brown head. Stale spicy bourbon aroma. Aroma seems great and different than other years; just a tiny bit stale. A bit of chocolate and stale molasses. Flavor… a bit watery and devoid of flavor. But, I still get the OSA gist of it. Winey grape skin late in finish. A little soap in the forefront. Very old, dry bourbon soaked wood and brown grass too.
7 / 4 / 7 / 2 / 12 = 3.2

1992
Another large frothy light-brown head. Seems more oxidized and metallic. Maybe not… there is some very stale component in there that is drowning everything out. More concentration yields some sweet chocolate. It’s a nice full aroma, but the stupid oxidation drowns out a lot of good qualities. Flavor is oxidized OSA, chocolate. Some vegetable.
5 / 4 / 6 / 3 / 11 = 2.9

1993
This one is a bit darker colored, more like current OSA. Head is slightly thinner and fades faster. Not as full in aroma as the 1992. A bit of chalky spices and very light chocolate and freshly cracked sweet vegetable stalks. Very rounded flavor. Not oxidized at all. A little holiday spices, a little banana bread w/o the banana, a little molasses.
7 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 13 = 3.6

Very good beer that reminds me of their porter but is exceptional. A red-tinged head. Very tasty.

Sampled at a 2005 Christmas and Winter beer tasting at Delilah’s, Chicago, IL. 2000 vintage. Clear dark brown ale having no discernable head and carbonation. Slight spice aroma. Medium bodied that starts with spicy, toffee, and prune flavors. Finishes with light sweet malt aftertaste. This is a good drinkable winter brew.