Anchor Our Special Ale (2002)

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

Bottle. Plan B. Cph. Dk. Vintage 2002. Dark red-brown color with a sweet roasted fruity aroma and taste, medium body and a smoked finish. The finish reminds me of rauch beer, smoked eal, I don´t like that.

Poured a dark, dark, brown, with a small, light tan head and light lacing on the glass. Roasted chocolate, spicy clove, cardamom, and dried, sour fruits in the aroma. The roasts and chocolate have really come through in the past 2 years. The spices have died down, which is something which swaysme away from a fresh OSA. I can also taste some dry cinnamon/nutmeg in the finish.

Mauld wine was the first thing that came to mind when I smelled this beer. It had a big nutmeg and wood characters on the nose and mouth. The pour was a deep brown w/ orangy finish and decent head and lacing. The mouthfeel was wet and medium bodied.

Draught at Stuffed Sandwich, San Gabriel. 2000-2004 Vertical tasting on 11/19/04
Beautiful chestnut coloured body with an ample, fluffy, lasting tan head. Flavor and aroma of sweet malt, less tar and resin than the prior year, more anise (Jagermeister) flavor. Much nuttier.

REALLY dark color (almost black) with some red twinges in the light. Nice tan head with really nice lacing. Aroma is more black licorice than anything else to go along with pine and all sorts of spices (mostly allspice?). I’m getting high just sniffing this stuff (reminds me of 5th grade). First sip is rich tobacco juice, cinnamon and as it warms a bit, vanilla. Sweet chocolate and mollasses. I swear if I keep drinking, I couldn’t possibly come up with the whole spice rack that Anchor throws into this nectar. Another year, another great beer. Thank you Anchor Brewing.

Didn’t seem too much differant from the 2003, excepted there seem to be a much more present taste of nutmeg. Nice looking brown body. Nice tan head. Pretty nice beer.

Light ebony. Tight and velvety off-tan head. Complex aroma of spice cake, molasses, evergreen bark, black licorice, and candied currants. Cola, birch, cardboard, and bubblegummy yeast hints. Tongue-tingling carbonation. Tangy and light-bodied, despite its malt heft. Bittersweet chocolate thwarts the oxidation, whilst earthy Black Patent compounds the body-inhibiting acidity. Long-lasting birch and black licorice notes with a continual dry malt expression. Albeit manageable, there’s some chalkiness and dried plum acidity, which curtails the malt richness. Subtle leather astringency in the finish constantly underscores the evergreen and meaty molasses. It’s a shame this is already showing signs of oxidation and acidity, which means it won’t be improving much with more age. Because otherwise, this is a real dandy.

Sampled from a 1.5L bottle September of 2004
Pours a deep brown color, almost approaching a black. In the aroma I get notes of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon. The body is quite a bit thinner now after a couple of years of age. The taste is actually fairly dry, but it does have a complexly sweet molasses note at the same time. The finish is a bit astringent and dry. The astringency almost has a pine/ spruce thing going on that contributes to drying out my mouth after each sip. This is definitely past its prime, but my other bottles should still age interestingly enough.