Anchor Brewing Company Our Special Ale

Our Special Ale
(has 20 batches)

 

Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California, United States 🇺🇸

  Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Spiced Winter Out of Production
Score
7.07
ABV: 5.5% IBU: 40 Ticks (all batches): 500
This is our special ale from the brewers at Anchor. It is sold only from early November to mid-January. The Ale’s recipe is different every year, but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons appears born anew.
 

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6/10
2017 version in a 2006 glass.
Tried from Bottle on 15 Dec 2017 at 23:12

7/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
0.33 l bottle shared with Anna Bog. Thanks! Dark brown, lasting small tan head. Spicy aromas, roasty, nutty, chocolate. Dry. Nice use of spices. Medium body, moderate carbonation, light finish. Tasty.
Tried from Bottle on 11 Dec 2017 at 10:55


7.2/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 7
Dark brown to black colored, medium+ frothy tan head, not all that lasting. Aroma is of malt, dark chocolate, roasty, spices, aniseed?, toasty, bit bready. Taste is medium sweet malt, chocolate and roasted malt, spices, toasty, some caramel, bready, licorice, light orange peel?, medium roasty bitterness, dryish finish. Medium bodied, soft+ carbonation, bit creamy. (bottle 2017, Pivoteka, Zagreb)
Tried from Bottle on 07 Dec 2017 at 15:57

6.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
Bottle from systembolaget. Aroma is deep and thick but no overall master flavour. The apperance, dark with a lovely stout like coffee style fizz. The taste is much darker than most christmas ales, more like a stout. Smoke, dark malts, burnt wood charcol. Not a massive fan of this ale/stout hybrid flavour. (5/12/17) --- Bottle from Systembolaget. Wasn't aware I had had this before. Ah well. Sweet lakrits in the nose. Lovely apperance with a lasting foam. Sweet lakrits and malt in the taste. Some cola in there. Much preferred this time round, a nice rather unique tasting christmas beer. 2.9 to 3.2.
Tried from Bottle on 05 Dec 2017 at 10:59

7.5/10 Appearance 10 Aroma 6 Flavor 7 Texture 10 Overall 7
2017 bottle. A bit of a pleasant surprise, not as heavily spiced and overbearing as most Winter Warmers, more herbal and dry than a liquid gingerbread cookie. Seems hoppier than the last OSA I drank--granted, it was several years ago--and comes across far more invested in bright green pine, anise, and juniper notes (maybe spruce tips) with an underlying malt sweetness that mixes caramel-slathered bread with mild hefe hints of banana and clove. Finishes bready and bittersweet. Definitely grows on you as it warms. Good year to buy a sixer.
Tried from Bottle on 06 Nov 2017 at 18:58

6/10
Botella 33 cl en el Lúpulo Oviedo diciembre 2011. Edición 2010. Fcpref 09..2012. (r2111). Maltosos muy especiados, recuerdos de anises y algunos enebros. Cuerpo medio fino, espumoso. 5.5 vol suaves. Original.
Tried on 15 Aug 2017 at 13:24



7/10
Interesting. Quite bitter, very herbal, little bit of smokyness. Creamy and soft mouthfeel. Not especially christmassy, but an OK beer.
Tried from Bottle on 08 Aug 2017 at 22:00