Anchor Our Special Ale (2005 and later)

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

6-pack from Bottle King, Dumont, NJ...2008 bottle pours dark reddish brown, beige head...sweet smell of cherries, plum, malt, and chocolate...taste also includes fig and caramel, and a touch of vanilla...smooth mouthfeel, decent lacing...tasty brew.

Magnum of the 2006 vintage. Strange beer for a hot summer day, but what the hell. When opened, the bottle still had a ton of carbonation. Pours a dark brown with a frothy beige head. Surprisingly good head retention. Aroma is of spice, malt, pine, alcohol, and tobacco. Taste is of spice, malt, tobacco, preserves, pine, and plum. It has become insanely earthy after only a few years. Lots of fruit to it, which take over the beer. Lingering taste of spice and plum. Mouthfeel was medium, and the body was very carbonated. Finish was all alcohol. This beer has aged very well, but it’s not as good as some other vintages. Definitely worth drinking, and very enjoyable.

Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. 2008 Vintage.
Smoothly poured out this latest version into my Affligem glass. It poured in total silence, flowed so smooth. Dark brown with obvious reddish hues, so-so sized brown head with really good retention. Immediate wafting aromas of gingerbread, mild pine, medicinal scents, cookie dough found in pails sold for fundraising, cola, background milk chocolate - wow - what a blend! And all that stuff is found in the mild aroma. The taste follows the same standard: mellow but packed with goodness. Nutmeg, gingerbread cookies, dull chocolate, toasted malts, mild and well portioned pine, tangy citrus hops (orange, peach, lemon in order of strength of impression). Finishes quite spicy. Medium to medium full bodied, nice soft carbonation, lasting spicy and bitter (where was this before?) aftertaste. Man, this stuff went down so smoothly. Incredibly well balanced. A massive improvement over the 2007 which wasn’t bad but just odd. I find nothing wrong with this beer at all except that I have no more in my glass.

2007 Vintage

Poured out a medium brown brew with red hues, a mid range brown crown of average size with good retention and a little bit of spotty lacing. The aroma here is pretty cool even if it doesn’t immediately appeal to you since it is odd. Roasty and fresh, the fruit is both prune like and orangy at the same time, there is also a vegetable aroma that is very squash like, biscuit and smoke. The smoke is there for sure with weak cloves. Something makes me think of chocolate but it is not chocolate.... I’ll question this next time. Some how, I give this an 8 even though it is not overly appealing - just unique and complex. The taste is of wet biscuits, a toffee roast, mild piny hops and a slight spice. Main flavor for me is the roasted malts. The mouth feel is quite nice with a very welcoming carbonation, medium to medium full bodied, ends with dark roast on the aftertaste and a bitterness that fades as the beer warms. I think this is a bit too roasted for me but either way it is an interesting beer.
8 3 7 4 14 = 3.6

Flaske 0,355l. Dyp rød på farge - nesten sort. Et høyt kremaktig skum som varer lenge. Litt brunfarge. Frisk aroma av frukt og bær. Variert fruktig smak som glir over i en bitterhet med overtoner av ristet malt. Ettersmak av kaffe og karamell. KI=5

15-JUN-2009. Bottle @Den Tatoverede Enke. Dark brown with little head. Very interesting nose and taste. I really enjoy this complex beer. loads of porter and christmas flavors blend together to form a wonderfull beer.

"(2008)Dark brown with ruby red elements when held up to light. a thick brown rests on top. Aroma is nice, cinnamon cloves, cream cheese icing, chocolate and possibly pine. That is a uber wicked smell complicated and inviting. Taste doesn’t disappoint either sweet to a mild sour, lots of clove, pine, vanilla so many flavours. Fresh backing mild amounts of sweet chocolate. This is very drinkable you can sip on it for hours a pick out different flavours constantly. 9.87 thumbs up for this year’s addition. " " (2007) Body of the beer appears very dark brown and had a ruby red glow when held to the light. A thick tan cap floats on top of the beer and has amazing retention which is leaving behind thick walls of lacing, this is a dam nice looking beer. Aroma is a bit of a disappointment with its public bathroom soap quality and slight sourness. Soft spice notes of cinnamon, cloves, and coriander are appearing in the scent and a smooth malt character is coming through. The aroma is both good and bad not overly appealing but very interesting. Flavor is way milder than I ever would have expected it to be, bitter dark malts, pine, spices, and a very out of place strange flavor of turkey dark meat seems to hang out in the after taste. The more I drink the more cloves I can taste and maybe just a hint of chocolate. Very complex and interesting but not the beer I was hoping for. "

This is a 2007 bottle so I’m not sure if this is an accurate rating or not so I’m going to have to go by how it is as of now. Nice dark brown almost black color. Smells of spices, malts, hops, and nutty scents. Taste has nice body with hints of hops, nuts and spices. I’m not sure if this is a little too old or not, but it’s a pretty good brew.

completely unexpected on the color of this pour was black with brown around edges aromas and flavors are hard to pin point but molasses,malts,fruits,and spices,pine just to much ging on in here