Anchor Our Special Ale (2004)

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

12 oz. bottle - thanks nugget; dark rosy brown with spotty white head; rich, deep bodied with nutty, spicy and bready aromas; malty, nutty and dry; quite nice with lots of spice, nutmeg, cloves

On tap, 2004 keg. Pours with a creamy tan head and a slightly hazed amber brown body. Decent lace. Aroma of dark toffee, caramel, coffee and light spice (very light for an OSA). Flavor of dark fruits, spice, coffee grounds (light) bitter dark caramel and light oxidation papery notes. Rounded fruit notes. Medium bodied, creamy mouth, medium to high bubbles.

cloves, spices, malt, caramel, chocolate, candy, the perfect stocking stuffer!!

Magnum shared at Logan’s 2009 pre-GABF Party 񢉔 version as listed here). Light brown pour with a tan head. Aromas of nutmeg, brown sugar, and, surprisingly, alcohol. Slightly sour flavor with still cinnamon and nutmeg. If that doesn’t sound very good to you it’s because it isn’t. Thin bodied. I remember really liking some of the OSA’s when they were newly released but I just don’t think this has held up well.

(bottle) Pours out a dark murky brown with a light beige head that leaves a ring around the snifter and stays. Aroma is strong of cola, ginger snaps, light spearmint, rye, and a bit of brown sugar too. Further warming results in this beer bearing an uncanny resemblance to JP/Stone/Nogne Holiday Ale. Taste has hints of dark fruits, brown sugar, cola, and dries out to a nice finish of dark chocolate and roasted malt. Everything is fairly subtle at first, but as this warms up, the rye really shows up in the finish, yielding a big rye bread taste. Mouthfeel is medium and carbonation is smooth. Oddly enough, for this being 5 yrs. old and of a low ABV, there is no presence of oxidation. Pretty good stuff.

Dark brown with off-white head. Tastes of molasses, ginger, and toffee. Malty aftertaste. A good Christmas ale.

I brought this 2004 vintage, I didnt bring the 03, that was consumed during our 2002 to 2006 vertical Dec. 2008. Pours hazy dark brown with tan edges and 30 second mocha head. The aroma is smooth dark molasses, hints of chocolate, dark gingerbread, rye bread, more molasses only lighter in color and old toffee. The taste is dry dark chocolate moving into molasses and a touch of fruitiness. It ends dry with roasted malts, chocolate and rich ripe aged dark fruitiness.

courtesy of cicgarcitybrew. Pours dark brown with yellowish - tan head. Aroma is malty and chocolate. Taste, light and dry. malty, chocolate with notes of cocoa powder - caramel and some very faint spices. My favorite of our 2008 vertical tasting. This one aged quite well.