Anchor Our Special Ale (2003)

Pours dark brown with medium lasting tan head. Aroma is spicy with a touch of ginger and some pine and even some anise. Flavor seems a little lacking in spice with mostly anise. Finishes bitter. Not bad but not great.

I love this years OSA -- a deep, mellow porter like beer with a rich foamy head. Smells of evergreens and pine and tastes of cloves and ginger -- I'd get sick of this as a standard, but as a once a year treat its divine!

I got an initial anise, ginger taste, reminded me of some Christmas cookies my grandma made years back. Did not get this pine taste everyone else seems to taste.A nice raisin , brandy aftertaste. Each bottle seems to taste better, its like you have to learn this one.

This beer poured a dark red color with a thin off white head. The aroma reminded me of a pine tree … but a little more sweet. The taste reminded me of the same thing … a pine tree. Which is what I should expect from a Christmas ale I guess. There was also some Clove and Cinnamon in the flavor ... possilbly some other spices. Not a bad beer, but the taste was not to my personal liking.

Aroma is spicy, gingerbread, molasses. Pours a very dark brown, opaque, with a thick tan head. Christmas-y flavours with sugar, candy. Slight astringence in the finish. Palate is malty, hops are not really evident. A solid beer

A spicy aroma, cream-colored head. It tastes kinda watery until a rather strange finish. I'm not really a fan of this beer at all, but to be honest, I got it for free at the liquor store cuz some guy returned the whole case saying it was skunked. so, maybe it is.

(Bottle) Pours a dark brown (nearly black) color with a creamy tan head. Has flavor of black liquorish, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla with a nice creamy finish.

Very dark with a ample tan head. A lot going on here, with heavy fruits, good dose of malt, brown sugar, chocolate and of course an array of spices. The bitter finish holds it together and makes this one of the better holiday ales you can find.