Anchor’s Our Special Ale 2009
17 Dec
Name – Anchor’s Our Special Ale 2009
Country – United States
Type – Winter Warmer
Appearance – Pours a dark red and borders on brown with red highlights around the edges of the glass. Nice size tans head but it is gone pretty quick.
Smell – Woah! There is a lot going on here. You get the cinnamon and nutmeg like you’d expect but there is also some piney notes and dark fruits.
Taste – Even bigger woah! All those spices mixed with a heavy dark fruit flavor. Think figs and dates. There is a bit of a caramel taste in there as well and a little piney hops. Ultra complex.
I know that Anchor changes their recipe on this beer each year and I have heard people saying this is the best year ever. Unfortunately this is my first to judge and it is definitely different. There is so much complexity to this beer that it was almost sensory overload trying to pick out the flavors. This is definitely not for a new comer but a big beer geek should really enjoy the hell out this one.
Overall Grade – B-
I’ve got 50 ounces just waiting to go for X-mas. Can’t wait to drink it with the family.
I’m picking this up this weekend. I didn’t know they change the recipe every year…great marketing technique.
@nate – A few people at a beer group told me that. They said some years it tastes like trying to drink a Chritmas tree.
Ha! Yeah they’ve been changing it since they started doing it. I’ve read of some people who have all of the releases since way-back-when. Weird. Last year’s was my first and I thought it was OK – this one sounds very interesting! Merry Christmas Mike!
Merry Christmas to you too Scott!
Mike I really liked this beer. Here is a link to my review. Also we finally got your site up on B&WB Not sure why it wasn’t there, but we have corrected the oversite. Nice review.
http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2009/12/22/displaying-their-wares/
No worries Don. I appreciate it.