Anchor Our Special Ale (2001 and earlier)

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

Vintage 2001. Dark brown in colour. Aroma was spicy, earthy, ginger and nutmeg, bready malt. Flavour of earth, wood, spices, malty, licorice, ginger. Medium body and carbonation. Finishes with a mild bitterness, long and slightly dry.

1998 Bottle @ RBSG 04’ Grand Tasting
Thick hazy with excellent head/lacing. The aroma is mild with some aged fruit & earthy sweetness. The flavor is smooth, mild. The nice uniqueness of these doesn’t really come through as much as the fresh ones do.

3 vintages tasted from Double Magnum bottles at the 2004 Crescent Moon Vintage Beer Tasting. When you get these side-by-side you really can see an amazing diversity. 1995: Spruce! Such a strong spruce flavor that you might be tempted to clean your kitchen floor with this. Very tart and spicy. I give it an overall 4.1 just for the uniqueness. 1998: Big dark brown head. Not nearly as high a spruce content, or am I just tasting leftover spruce from 1995? Lacks the body of the 1995, but has lots of chocolate. Delicious, and gets a 4.3. 1999: Dark brown in color. Good head, but does not last. Very astringent it was so tart. I just don’t get the message the spices are trying to tell in this one. The drunken beer novices loved this one. I give it my disappointment score of 3.5. Thanks Bill, for sharing these prizes! UPDATE 8/4/7: Vintage 1998 in the bottle at the 2007 Baburek backyard vintage beer tasting. Thanks to bditty187 for the beer. Acetone aroma with prunes. Dark amber with a thin white head. This has lost it’s oomph. There’e some chocolate, but tartness is the only thing in the finish. Big licorice flavor is still present.

1998: Amber brown with a head that left quickly and some spotty lacing. Aromas of ginger, citrus, hops and some malts. Very malty flavors. Caramel. Vanilla. Ginger. Mellow hop backing. Creamy palate. Damn good beer. Finely aged.

1997 Vintage purchased at the Brickskeller in Washington, D.C. I was so happy they had it. Deep dark pour with a nice small tan head. Lots of spice, this aged well. Nutmeg, cinnamon, and some pine. Tasted kinda like a pine tree too. Lots of spice. A very warm beer. Not quite like the 2003 vintage, but sitll very good.

1998 vintage. Pours a dark brown with a small tan head. Tons of spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove come through in the aroma. Taste had a nice gingerbread quality to it, earthy and slightly toasty. Very heavily carbonated from aging, and had a nice orange and clove presence to the aftertaste. Very smooth and well aged.

98 bottle, thanks Eric! Dark, dense head. Strong aroma of vinegar, sugar, slightly sour. Earthy cinnimon. Medium body. Frothy. Taste is of beets I think. Very evident spicing going on here, but not overdone. Aftertaste is quite spicy. A strange and unique beer.

1998 edition. This beer came in an absolutely huge 50.7 ounce bottle. It must have been designed for a little holiday "nightcap." The beer poured a deep red-brown, with a dense, persistent tan head that left nice lacing. Anise, vegetables, chocolate, and flowers pervaded the air above the glass. Aging has done wonders for the flavor- rather than the dominant anise and vegetable flavors that turned me off of the fresh 2003 and 2002 versions, the spices have mellowed out quite a bit, and underlying chocolate and coffee malt flavors are more prominent. Slightly tart body. The first vintage of this beer I’ve actually enjoyed.