Anchor Our Special Ale (2003)

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

Nose of dark, roasted malts with spices and some ginger. Clear, dark brown coloured with a lasting, creamy, brown head. Taste is initially stouty; Sweet and roasted malts. Then ginger and bitterness become more present. Bit sticky brew. Okay. I actually wouldn’t know if i like this one better than the 2001 or 2004 i had.

bottle dark brown with an off white head. kind of a cross between a German dunkel and a porter. some clove, banana and spice flavors mixed with roasty, yoasty malt. Unique.

Has a dark brown/ ruby reddish tint and doesn’t have much head to speak about. The aroma is much more mellow after sitting in a cooler for a year and a half, but it still has trace of dark toasted malt and fruity bannana and cherry. This could possibly fool me as being a porter because of its rich roasted and sweet malt character. Even though i’m sure the flavor has definitely calmed down from a fresh batch from this year, it still holds a small spice of nutmeg sided by a molasses syrup taste. I have to thank mjg74 for mentioning where he found this beer at or else it would of remained on my beer list in the want section rather than the cellared

Pours an opaque brown with a thin light brown head. Smells on pine and nutty malt. Taste is sweet and smoky. Almost syrupy sweet. Nutty. Underlying piney tastes. Like you’re drinking something with pine needles in the glass. It may not sound good but it really works. Slightly bitter pine flavors in the finish. Full bodied with a sticky pine sap aftertaste that lingers a bit. Sweetish and syrupy aftertaste on the tongue. A great christmas beer. This beer makes me happy.

Party Time liquor in El Cajon still has this stuff for $5.99 a sixer. This beer pours a very dark brown color. Aroma is mostly a mixture of many spices. Nutmeg seems the strongest. Mild roasted flavor with a quite a bit of spice. Lasting roasted finish.

This beer changed my attitude about spiced ales. This beer is good. Very dark with roasted malt flavors combined with dried orange peel and sassafras. Touch of sweetness, touch of bitterness. A very well-crafted and interesting beer.

My beer assistant for this one in the bargin bin. Aroma of Christmas pine tree. Also a wine aroma present. Black body with thin tan head that disipated rather fast. Roated chocalate flavor and rich enough to make this a good beer. Thank you bargin hunter.

Good. Lord. I was blown away by this beer. Had this at the Gaslight Brewery in South Orange, from their mighty reserves. Was told by the bartender that this gets better with age. It was better than the 2004. This was like drinking molasses, just sweet enough, and fermented. Absolutely delicious. Absolutely time-space displacing. Absolutely Christmas, any time of the year its served. This is one of the best beers I’ve ever had.