Anchor Our Special Ale (2003)

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

Draft at Plan B, Cph. Dark brown coloured with a beige head. Aroma of liquorice, såices, anise and dried fruits. Flavour of spices, liquorice and dried fruits with notes of chocolate and light roasted notes.

Dark brown body with a small head, very nice lacing on the glass. Aroma is very spicy. Maybe even pine trees in there? Finishes with a light bitterness. Very nice beer.

Bottled. Pours dark brown with a white head. Aroma is sweet and spicy, cinnamon, cloves, orange. Taste is sweet spicy and orangey.

Perfect dark brown apperance. Flavor is with lots of cardamom and orange. Total christmas. And a bit too much, frankly.

2003 12oz. Before rating, I must say this beer went far above my expectations. It’s huge!; both in its sexy appeal & complexity and also it ability to aid holiday reminisence. OK, first the ale looks amazing! This dark brown ale is obaque in the center, allowing a little mahogany little in @ it’s edges. Very little, but tan, head. It’s smell almost dumb-founded on the first scent, it’s like cooked meats?, cookies, spices, fukin christmas! The tastes are equally explosive set subdued. Heavly spices and still a well structured malty-hop balance. Very good! They managed to put something like gingerbread cookies and x-mas tree shopping in there too. But really there is so much going on here, I can’t put a finger on most. This was a very lucky find, @ City Beverage in Win.-Sal., NC. They also had BIG ASS group bottles for under 20!

Well folks here it goes, after a bad experience with the 2002 and 04 OSA, I didn’t hold out much hope for this beer either. A rich brown hue topped by a small but lasting head and some lacing. The aroma is spicy and flowery as expected but not over-the-top. Notes of ginger, cardamom, juniper, and spruce woven with some earthy yeast esters and a touch of sugar. The taste is equal to the nose, with a strong spice character but again it seems more subdued than the 02 and 04 siblings. I can taste the malt and even the bitters in this beer. YEAH! This is what I remembered older OSA being like and the ones I used to enjoy. Glad I have one more of these to enjoy later, renewed my faith in this beer. (Thanks to who sent me these beers in trade, I think Kevin was one of the traders)

I don’t know how I manged to find this, AND realize I hadn’t had this vintage. Quite a nice suprise. Smells like gingerbread cookies fresh out of the over and sprinkled with cinamon. Wow, this smells wonderful, reminds me of being home for winter break watching the snow fall. Palate is smooth and silky now, reall easy going. The flavor is malty,earthen, sweet, lightly citrusy and well spiced. The age seems to have blended the flavor together quite well, not having any of them too strong. This one has been stored in a cooler...well, at least I found it in one, but I suspect that one kept open and raw might make this thing a bit worse for wear.

Brown with delicate beige head. perfumed aroma with notes of flowers, milk, pears, wood, bitter chocolate, coffee and merengue. Bitter flavor with notes of hops, bitter chocolate, alcohol, mint, fruit, wood, apricots, sugar, citrus and juniperwood. Dry finish.