Anchor Our Special Ale (2002)

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

Deep brown with a dark tan head. Smells of scotch, cloves and cinnamon. Quite thick, tastes quite stronger than 5.5% ABV... a mixture of dark piney flavors and nuts, chocolate, earthy and creamy. Good hop profile at the end. A perfect Christmas beer.. very warming and robust. I just found a cache of 2002 at one of OKCs stores. While it doesn’t taste spoiled, it does taste just slightly old. I’ll be saving some for future years to do verticals.

Update - Dec 2005: This stuff is awesome, easily beats the 2003 and 2004 in a vertical... lots of wood and roasted plum syrup flavors... dark fruit, tastes wood-aged. My favorite OSA vintage.

Another update: October 2006. Still awesome, keeps getting better and better. The nose of plum, molasses, berry spices and wood is insane. A perfect example of how a beer can be huge in the nose without being high gravity.

Lot's of Christmasy flavor and spice. It's like a pine tree that sprouts hop flowers. And the label provides the perfect excuse to drink beer on Christmas morning. If any of your weeny family members looks at you sideways when you crack open a brew, you can say "Hey Goober, it's a 'Christmas Beer;' when else am I supposed to drink it--Easter?"

Found some 2002 on the shelf at a liquor store yesterday, and while it was really dusty, I decided to give it a shot. Much better than it was last year, I think it improved with age. Dark burgandy with a lasting tan head, nose like sticking your head in a spice drawer. Rich in texture and complexity, starts with a roast flavor and ends with hinds of clove and cinammon. Really, really, good.

Deep dark brown ruby appearance with a tiny tan head. A great big spicy aroma, and enters in with a spicy subtle earth aroma, that is very spicey but subdued and mellow. The aftertaste is slightly buttery. A little too spicy once it warms, becoming slightly harsh and cloying. Finish is a mix of cinnamon, pepper and ginger.

Brownish ruby and very dark. Head is quite nice and tan colored. The aroma is sweet and gingery. The flavor is also very gingery. More sweetness on this one (compared to my tasting of an older vintage immediately prior to this one). Body is medium.

Aroma is full of spices, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg. Color is a beautiful dark reddish brown, with a thick dense medium head. Spices come through in the taste as well as a slight roasted flavor, some smoke flavor. Smooth and dry finish.

Dark brown pour with mahogany edges, nice tannish head and spotty lacing. Very nice aroma of small grape wine, sweet malt and ginger. Ginger dominates the flavor (not in a bad way thought,) as Buck stated, nutmeg is hanging around as well as a touch of cinnamon. Very nice finish of a blend of spices and bitter. When I think of Christmas from now on, I will think of Anchor. Very good Christmas ale!

Dark brown color with ruby edges, soft creamy head and excellent lacing. The aroma smells sweet malt and candi canes, small amounts of ginger too. Flavor is full of ginger and nutmeg, maybe cinnamon. Finishes with a well aged bitterness and a light carbonated. Overall this is what a christmas ale should taste like or similar to. Excellent flavors, thanks JagerQueen!