Anchor Our Special Ale (2004)

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

I had forgotten about this one being stuck in a box in the beer cellar area. Nice dark, brownish-red in color. Good tan head, dense and creamy. Aroma of fruit. Smooth, drinkable, nice and mellow. Cellaring did it some good. Lightly sweet with a dry finish.

Deep red color with generous tan head. Spicy pine aroma with citrus and ginger aroma. Chewy palate though bit flat. Smoky roast flavor with orange, ginger and crisp hopiness.

Bottle (12oz). Shared with Garthicus, courtesy of superman - I mean Irishboy. Clear deep ruby, decent sized off-white head. Dry roast aroma, coffee beans, cocoa, herbal bitterness, a hint of sharp pungent medicinal molasses and a little dry cinnamon. The taste - wow, that’s a toughie - big maple syrup/caramel backbone, but incredible dry, leeched out pungent spice/herb bitterness, like an aged sultana/candied fruit/treacle Christmas cake had been steeped in a light sweet stout for a couple of years. Slick, somewhat flat, dry/acidic mouthfeel, long bitter medium-weight finish. Showing its age, but very nice.

Shared with HogTownHarry, Harrys bottle with thanks to Irishboy (another double whammy) Appearance: Deep black colour, brown small but creamy head. Lovely oatmeal, thick chocolate too, can’t wait for the flavour! Flavour: Cinnamon, pine, malt, bitter hops, and some old pine needles... very little carbonation, little alcohol too but somehow quite warming.. A quirky beer but a great one at that! (strangely there is an almost dusty-raisen finish!) Thanks Harry!

This was quite spicy, like drinking a Christmas tree. Lots of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. One of the better vintages, but just too spicy for my palate, not just what I want to drink in a seasonal beer. More pronounced hop bitterness this time around, with an underwhelming bitterness, but still lighter and quite dry in the finish. Which seems to be on par with other vintages.

12oz bottle from BevMo. Dark ruby brown color, foamy tan head. Very malty, plenty of spice, nutmeg, anise. Well balanced, not overly spicy or malty. Some dryness on the finish, light bitterness. Medium bodied and pretty creamy. Very nice.

Bottle courtesy of Unclemattie: Poured a deep dark brown color ale with a nice light brown foamy head with good retention but no lacing. Aroma of big caramel and toffee malt with light spices, which may include spruce. Taste is also dominated by some spices with huge caramel and toffee malt with some moderate sweetness. Full body with average carbonation and no apparent alcohol.

Not much else to add to this years verion. It’s still very tasty but some of the spicy character have mellowed a bit and the malts are more prominent. It has the usual suspects in the flavor and aroma profile. Thankfully the ginger has been toned down, but they left out the spruce character. I also didn’t pick up any chocolate on the flavor, but it seemed a bit more raisiny too me. A nice beer though.