Anchor Our Special Ale (2005 and later)

Brewed by Anchor Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
San Francisco, California USA

2009 version. Nose is Christmas in a glass - coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, molasses. Flavor is more of the spices upfront (like a cold, slightly yeasty chai tea), with a darak caramelly slightly roasted flavor underneath. A little strawberry shows up as it warms. Body is just a touch on the watery side. Pretty decent stuff.

12oz bottle poured into a tulip glass produced a thick, foamy, tan head with almost black body. Sweet aroma of chocolate and molasses. Taste is complex with hints of brown sugar, caramel, toffee, and spices. Very pleasant and light seasonal ale.

Vintage: 2008 Pours a very dark, amber tinted, brown color. Comes with a two-finger head of dense chocolatey colored foam. Great retention and great lacing, too. Smells almost sweet. Nice caramel malt presence. Big notes of brown sugar and toffee. Smells of cherries with a hint of strawberries (!). Holiday spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Dryer than, and not nearly as sweet as, expected. It’s actually quite subdued, compared to the nose. Almost bland. The spice notes are fairly overpowering. Ginger is the dominant one. Light cinnamon and clove. Slight hint of peppermint. Hints of dark molasses. Malt base is buried, deep. Everything just cancels each other out, and no flavor gets its chance to shine. Medium body. Very smooth and slick. Easy to drink, but there’s not much to it. Very drinkable, because there just isn’t much going on, inside this glass. Anchor is generally one of my top christmas brews, every year. I’m kind of let down by this one. At least when it’s still fresh. I’ll try it again, later.

12 oz. bottle, 2009. Pours an obsidian black with frothy beige / khaki head. Aroma of malt, caramel, bubblegum, smoke, butterscotch. Medium bodied. Taste is has slight bitterness, mimics aroma except roastier. Overall good, exactly what I wanted to be drinking tonight.

Reviewing the 2008 one year later in December of 2009. Aroma is fairly tame. A little roasty notes. First sip is malty then the spices kick in and then fade off. Gets better as it gets warmer.

2008 Bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a tan head. Nice spice aroma with a touch of hops and a hint of sweetness. Flavor of roasted malts and a mixture of spices (allspice, nutmeg, clove) with bit of chocolate and hop bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is a tad oily.

Pours a nice,rich orange with a pillowy off-white head. Lots and lots of juniper and nutmeg in the aroma. The first sip is like drinking a Christmas tree, and not necessarily in a good way. Mellows out a great deal from there, but still quite over-spiced, with an un-balanced coriander overtone. Might balance the spiciness with a higher alcohol content, but a bit too thin to qualify as a warmer. A decent session beer, but not really all that special.

Draft. Poured a dark reddish brown with medium white head. Aroma was a bit of dark fruits A bit of spice to finish. Pretty decent stuff.