Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (Our Special Ale) (2017)
(Batch of Our Special Ale)
Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey Winter Out of Production|
Score
7.12
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This is the forty-third annual "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, as the tree on the label, but with 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 it's seasons, appears born anew. Our tree for 2017 is the Santa Lucia fir. Extremely rare, it is native and limited to California's Santa Lucia Range.
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8/10
Had this last night. Thanks Kevin W. !!!
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Dec 2017
at 21:57
6/10
2017 version in a 2006 glass.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Dec 2017
at 23:12
Tried
on 09 Dec 2017
at 11:35
7.2/10
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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
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