Anchor Our Special Ale (2003)

I’m continually surprized that I like this kind of beer. It poured a dark brown color with a slight tan head. The cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger aroma was just right. The taste reflected the aroma with a bit of underlying fruitiness added. Nice Spiced up finish. I’m looking forward to the 2004 vintage.

Theanks Beandip. This a beer that I’ve had in many vintages. The problem is that I don’t much care for spice beers. Can’t beat the appearance, little darker that the color of the bottle, moderate brown head. Nose is cinnomon, carmel and maybe a little ginger. Flavor is pretty much like the aroma. Finish is carmel and spice.

Pours very, very dark with a thinnish tan head. Nose is pear and apple, caramel, cinnamon, and some type of pepper, as well as nutmeg or allspice (Can’t tell). Flavor is heavy on malt with nice hops bite, more caramel, and cherry. Finish is coffee and chocolate, and nice hops. Lovely.

Deep dark with not much head. Aromas of nutmeg, cinamon, banana, and tutti-Frutti? Dry with a light airy sweetness, full bodied, w/chocolate/malty/hop finish. Very rich w/ flavors of cherry, banana which seem to linger forever. Great beer

Apparently their best OSA. My mates and me took a while to drink this one. But it had a nice dark roast appearance and spicy pine roasted chestnut aroma. On sweet side with seasonal spices of nutmeg, cinammon, sugar, pine, almond, ginger.

Oh man! Heavenly smell. Smells like Christmas time like the label suggests. Gingersnaps, cinamon, and cloves. Unbelievable smell. Tastes like roasted almonds, gingersnaps, cinamon and cloves. Has a somewhat bitter aftertaste. This appears black, but in the light you can see a brilliant ruby glow. It comes with a tan head that actually looks dirty yellow in areas. Definately a holliday brew. I will be drinking this on Christmas Eve for years to come.

(Draft: O’Brien’s in San Diego, CA) I don’t know why this beer gets a new entry for each year; Anchor claims the recipe is different each year, but I’ve rated this beer every year since 1993, and my notes are always about the same, with only minor variations; Spicy nutmeg is front and center, closely matched by the moderate dark roasted flavor; This dark roasted flavor, along with a modest smokiness assert themselves in the finish; Of course, it’s fairly bitter from start to finish as well; It’s also moderately sweet, but it’s not something that you notice right away because the dark roasted maltiness, the bitterness, and the nutmeg are so potent; The palate is medium bodied and thinner than expected, but still has enough body for a winter; The nose is dominated by the nutmeg aromas; Dark, dark brown in color; Tan head is sizeable on the pour, exhibits excellent retention, but little to no lacing

I spent the entire pint trying to decide (a) if I liked it or not, and (b) what the heck I was drinking. Apparently Anchor changes the recipe for their Christmas Ale each year, and they keep that recipe pretty secret. If I had to guess I’d say the best way to describe this year’s version would be "smoky nutmeg" but I could be way off base about the nutmeg part. There was definitely some smoky something in there. At the end I decided I did like it, but more than one in a given session would probably be too much.