Anchor Our Special Ale (2002)

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

magnum, capped. no head, lace, or legs, after a few minutes...but theres massive head at first and a big web of honeycombed bubbles in the bottle on first pour. big dark spice nose, with hardwoods and earth showing. creamy medium body. plenty of firmly active carb. earth, roast, coriander, cloves, and chocolate on the mid palate. long spicy finish.

Do I remember exactly what this one tasted like 7 years ago? No. Do I have the willpower to save bottles for vertical tastings ten years down? Absolutely not. That said, I have tried every year’s offfering and rarely been disappointed, unless 02 was that one year it was too clovey. Hmm

Bottle from Liquid Solutions. Pours a deep brown with ruby tones. Head is finely bubbled tan. Aroma is lightly xmas spice. Full bodied with creamy carbonation. Flavor is toffee/treacle, cinnamon, and malt. It is very smooth. Very integrated. Some hot bits in the finish. Quite flavorful.

50 oz. bottle found at Bottleworks! Holy crap...I can’t belive this was at Bottleworks. Glad to have tried this one. $25 for a 50 oz. Nice off-white head that fades away to a thin head, but the head is a nice off-white brownish head. Great looking beer! After 7 years, I am glad this thing still carries as much carbonation as it does. Dark brown almost black in color. Nice looking ber I must say. Very malty with a slight spice aroma. The aging has had an effect on the spices. Again, for this beer the time hasn’t destroyed the spices. Spices come out more as the beer warms, but that malt has had a nice amount of time to develop and add a great flavor along with the spices. Wow, I can’t belive I was able to try this. Actually, I keep drinking this and the beer warms up this thing still has a fair amount of spice in the flavor but not in the aroma. The spice seems a bit more mature. A carbonated beer for its age.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep hazy coffee brown with a 2 finger tan head that left some spotty lacing. Nose was reminiscent of port wine with some sweet malts, toffee and a hint of coffee in the nose. good spice and toffee on the palate with a long finish that really stuck to the tongue. Very full bodied and bursting with flavor. My favorite of the aged Anchor X mas brews.

Nutmeg, coriander, allspice, treacle and bread nose. Almost salty on the palate with lots of spice and fruitcake notes. Clean lingering finish. Seems spicier that usual this year.

Bottle at The Bruery, 2002 vintage, drank it December 2002, vertical with 2001 and 2008 vintages. Dark amber color with an off-white head. Aroma of roasted malt, nutmeg, ginger, and brown sugar. Taste is the same, malty and spicy, not quite as mellow as the 2001. Medium-full body.

2002, consumed during our 2002 to 2006 vertical Dec. 2008. Pours dark hazy brown with mocha head and a bit of cobweb lacing. The aroma comes across as gingerbread cookie, molasses, hints of pepper and a whiff or two of caramel candy. The taste has a mix of concord grape jam, chocolate, hints of burnt molasses and smooth highly roasted malts. It ends with a bit of drying roasted malts and lingering sweet dark fruitiness. Very nice. Another one that has aged wonderfully.