Blue Anchor Spingo Extra Special

Brewed by Blue Anchor
Style: Barley Wine
Helston, England

Serve in Snifter

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Cask @ Blue Anchor. Very deep, dark coppery brown. Aroma is strong of rich sweet malt sugars and cinnamon. Tastes spicy. Dry with alcohol in the finish and nice spice.

Christmas Extra Special, at the brewpub in late January. Dark brown. Has an earthy, toffeeish aroma with accents of liquorice. Rich, fruity, spicy and sticky sweet. Good balance. Delicious, moreish, goes down too easy.

Cask (handpump) @ Nags Head, 5 Russell Street, Reading, Berkshire England RG1 7XD.

[ As Blue Anchor Extra Special Brew Alc. 7.6% ].
Clear dark red brown color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, caramel, overripped dark fruit, spicy, brown sugar, dried dark berries. Flavor is heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat, finish feel is light alcoholic. [20100428]

Gravity cask. Dover Beer Fest. Awful. This doesn’t taste like a full grain mash. Tastes like malt extract and sugar. Taste is very sugary with some apple. There’s no decent malt flavour. A decent home brew tastes better than this.

Cask gravity at the Exeter Festival of Winter Ales, 12/01/2007. A dark brown colour with no head. A light malt aroma. Taste is malt, cherry, raisin and port. Moderate bitterness. Taste is exactly what I look for in a winter ale, but the aroma was a let-down.

Bottle conditioned, 275ml. Red Chestnut colour with slight head. Sweet sucrose mouth with a strong alcohol note. Fruit and barley notes with a touch of malt loaf. There is a late medicinal flavour.
Earlier Rating: 2/17/2004 Total Score: 3.4
Bottle Conditioned. Dark black/brown beer with bubbly head. Sweet, thick , deeply roasted beer with a fruity background and plenty of alcohol character. Husky nuty flavours, there is a sulphery nose.

Nice ruby garnet color. Soapy bubbles. Very nice sweet maltnose. Lots of dark fruit with a discernable dryness at back of tongue. Great mouthfeel. Grapes?

UPDATED: AUG 3, 2004 Cask Conditioned, White Horse, Hedgerley, Bucks. Beer Festival Day 3 of 4, beer 13. Gravity dispense, I poured it. This was the one from the festival that I was most looking forward to. As early as Thursday night I had been bothering Kevin (the landlord), asking him when it would be coming on. Of course the beer festival didn’t start proper until Friday, and I came in that afternoon to try and get it, but it wasn’t ready, nor was it ready by Saturday. When I came in on the Sunday, I was happy to hear that it would be on shortly. As it was up the beer tent (I was working the bar), I didn’t actually know when it came on, and by the time I found out it had already been up for an hour. I made an excuse to visit the beer tent, and returned minutes later with a half pint (thanks goes to the unknown drunk Scotsman who bought it for me). First taste was exciting; it tasted a lot like a Belgian strong ale. I made taste comparisons with the likes of Westvelteren 12 & St Benardus 12, but it lacked their alcoholic strength so I likened this more with Westmalle Dubbel. A little later, hearing that the cask was soon to go, I waited hurriedly for the end of shift to come, and when it did I quickly filled a 2 pint container. I sampled the two pint take home container with a reasonably spicy meal a little later, and it tasted absolutely disgusting. It seemed so different to the original tasting, was there something wrong with the container? Apparently not it seemed, as later tastings proved to be good, but not half as good as the original taste. Was it the incredible dehydration I suffered after sweating 5 pints of liquid in a 4 hour period? Was it the incredible heat of a showery British may day? Who knows, but this was exceptional with the original fresh off the cask sample. My conclusion is that this is an excellent beer, and the closest thing to a Belgian strong that I’ve had on cask, but maybe it could suffer from bad keeping. What is also amazing is that I’ve just managed to type nearly 400 words without actually commenting on the beer itself. Funny that. Rating is for the original fresh sample.

Unlike the other reviewer my bottle poured with a strong head that lasted for the duration of drinking. Sweet and a bit sticky it is a perfect winter beer.It has warmth and power in equal portions. Perhaps not everyones taste but if you like your beers sweet and strong this is the one for you. It was also brewed in a very lovely pub.

Aromas are sweet with boozy alcohol vapours. This is a dark black beer that pours without a head, very still. Flavours comprise of a black coffee with four sugars - yes, it is sweet! Too sweet for my hops loving taste buds. Still, a decent boozy Xmas beer - especially if you like sweet, malty beers.