Anchor Our Special Ale (2002)

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

very dark duby with nice thick biege head. Very spicy aroma of gingerbread, licorice, gluwein, dark chocolate and cookies. Thick flavourful with obvious notes of spices. Coffe and nougat. Malty medium body. Medium bitter finish with with notes of gingerbread, walnut and spices.

Dark Brown and a thick, sandy colored head. Licorace and cinnamon in the nose. Licorace and molasses in the initial flavor, then some spruce like flavors. finishes with an almost salty crispness.

Dark brown with garnet undertones and a nice medium sized brown head. very pleasing aroma of malt and spices (clove,nutmeg). nice chocolate and coffee flavors, with spices too numerous to name coming into play. fairly light bodied, I would have preferred it a lit beefier, but overall a very tasty brew.

very nice christmas beer. Pours a dark brown. Strong spiced aroma. Thick and rich like a nice dessert.

Pours a dark reddish brown with a nice head. Spicy, peppery aroma. Malty flavor with a spicy aftertaste. Not much of a finish though. Got this brew for the bargain price of 98 cents because it was old. Best 98 cents I've ever spent!

Its a shame that they change the recipe for this Special X-mas Ale, cuz this was just a super awesome surprising delight. Color is almost black with a very deep, dark ruby hue coming through the edges. No head transpired from pouring and what bubbles did appear faded into oblivion. Has a faint aroma of plum, kinda sweet. Also notes of cinnamon, fig, and nutmeg. Its very soft on the nose. It reminded me of the smell of sweet potatos(yams). Taste is all over the place, mostly subtle flavors, nothing sticks out. Ahh, but whats there is so very interesting, its lightly, silky smooth with what I believe to be mostly tart cherry with hints of clove, vanilla, and sweet spices. I raised my eyebrows more then once while drinkin it. The feel is light to medium bodied with a great, quite strong little tart hold on the tongue that is super nice. The finish quietly gets dry and intices you into another swig. I only wish this had a heavier body feel, but thats beside the point of this beer. Its all about being subtle and suprising. I sure hope they hold onto this recipe and use it again, but I also can't wait to see whats in the next batch.

Very christmasy, but nice and restrained. Gingerbread biscuits, with some cakey, chocolatey flavours, spicy, with some late bitterness and a long finish, very nice.

Dark, color of cherry cola with nice yellow/tan head. Nose is moderately hoppy and spicy-red hots? Well balanced with a spiciness I cannot identify but it works. Slightly bitter finish. When winter comes around I always try and pick up a six of this, and I haven't been disappointed yet. Good beer.