Our Special Ale 1996 (Anchor Christmas Ale)
Anchor Brewing Company

 

 

 

First off id like to apologize to my friends whom I shared this with. 18 years have really done a number on this brew.

Cap pries off clean, it pours a clear color of lightly browned and ruby tinted molasses. Even though a light fizz emits, there are no visual signs of carbonation. The smell is sweet with raison and then it goes straight to soy sauce. A light intermingling of sherry and fruity alcohol, faded spice also faintly noted. The taste is a replica of aroma, raison before a bounty of soy sauce and slight oxidized leafy autumn foliage.

If you have a bottle of this...do yourself a favor and marinade a steak in it. I sure wish I did...or, do a reduction and pour it over leftover chinese food. You can thank me later.

 

 

 

 

Well well well. What is there to say? This is a vintage review. 1996 Our Special Ale acquired by chance for $1.69 at a SoCal bottle shop near Santa Monica. "Ale brewed with spices with natural flavors added." 22nd anniversary. 12 fl oz brown glass bottle with gold generic unbranded pressure cap served into a conical Samuel Smith's pint glass in me gaff in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California. Reviewed live. To be clear, I'm drinking this 17 years after its release. Will it hold up? I strongly doubt it.

Served straight from the fridge. Side-poured with extra vigor as extreme lack of carbonation issues are anticipated. It's fucking 17 years old, lads.

A: All I got from the vigorous pour is a quarter finger pleasant khaki colour head of great cream, nice thickness, and okay (~1.5 minute) retention. For 17 years, you'd expect far worse. The khaki is a spot-on, desert military type khaki. Vibrant and appealing. The body colour, however, is a rather dark brown-black. Nontransparent; opaque. It's not a jet black, though. No yeast particles are visible. No bubble show. For its age, it's pretty good.

Sm: Reminiscent of a barleywine. Malty as hell. The refined malts of age. Deep caramel malt. A bit sappy. Biscuit malt. I don't get any oxidation; I'm impressed. Maybe a deep toffee-esque note. Brown sugar. Depleted fermented sugars contributing a refined richness. I don't get any yeast or alcohol. Whatever the starting ABV was (it isn't marked on the bottle), it's since come up. I'd peg it at 7.5% ABV based solely on the aroma. Caramel is dominant. A moderate strength aroma. I'd call it appealing; I expected a vinegary weak mess. (See my 1978 La Trappe Amber review).

T/Mf: Okay... Caramel, toffee. Sauce on the finish; perhaps soy or A-1. A bit tar-like; the mouthfeel in the third act is tough, chewy, and relentless. Definitely too coarse and dry; the finish is near intolerable. Raisin. Maybe there was maple syrup character 10 years ago. Any and all spice has deteriorated. No yeast character or alcohol. None of that refined rich malt here; that was aroma only. This has gone off. Boy, that's just not good. Imbalanced and poorly built. This might have been great once, but it's garbage now. Far too thick. I'm not enjoying this.

Dr: Please. It's not at all drinkable due to the thick chewy disgusting mouthfeel. Reminiscent of chewing on tar. Why this was aged so much, I'll have no idea. At $1.69, I saw fit to buy it, but I wouldn't do it again. Interesting as a vintage experiment. I might end up just cooking with this one; it's pretty bad. That said, it's still not vinegary - which is impressive for its age. I got through about a third of it, and I'm calling it quits. Drinks like a cobweb. I can see where it might have been good in the past, but it's far since fallen off. I wouldn't recommend buying this now, but it might have been great 12-14 years ago.

D

 

Thanks to jmgrub for sharing this one at AndrewK’s tasting.

Pours a clear dark brown with a tan head that quickly fades to nothing. No lacing on this one. Smell is of malt, slight spices, and a distinct aroma of A-1 steak sauce that is completely unexpected. Taste is pretty watery and thin with some malt, brown sugar, mild spice, and an underlying sourness that is odd. This beer has almost no carbonation with a very flat and somewhat thick mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty poor beer as it stands right now and aging has not been kind to this one over the almost 16 years since it has been bottled. With that being said I am glad I got to try this one for sure.

 

Big thanks to bmanning for sharing this bottle. Served in a wine glass.

Pours a moderate reddish-copper with a thin off-white head and some nice lacing. The nose carries a bit of spice and faintly-sweet malt. Slight spice and mild bitterness to the flavor. Faded, but still fairly good. Only light oxidation. Body is pretty light. This has held up quite well.

Are you kidding me with this bmanning? An ancient OSA to share at a recent tasting. Thank you!! Very thrilled.

Beer served in a snifter. Beer is brown, a little hazy, appears almost still, a little legs on the glass, no real head or lacing or carbonation.

Beer smells a little raisiny, a little like sherry, mild, very mild spice.

Beer is sweet, medium bodied, still on the palate, a shadow of cinnamon remains, the beer is not as oxidized as you might expect, nicely rounded, sweet, strong, tastes a lot like raisins. Overall much better than I expected for it being so darn old.

I was given this by a co worker over the summer and damn did he miss out on an awesome aged ale. This ale was kept on its side while it aged and saw very little light. My father, my uncle, and I cracked this baby open to see what 14 years has done to this massive bottle of holiday ale.

Poured into a snifter, very dark almost black but you can see hints of red light shine through, seems thick but not quite a syrup, It has maintained a very desirable viscosity. To my surprise it has carbonation. I almost cried when I saw the tan head form and its lacing still sticks . This is such a beautiful sight.

Smells of dark burnt caramel malts, figs, plums, and dark chocolates. It doesn't smell the least bit spoiled. Pleasant alcohol esters rise towards the nose. I cant get over the complexity of the aromas.

Tastes smooth, not harsh. Creamy notes of burnt sugars, and taffy. Chocolate along with fruits such as plums, and raisins seem to make a very strong appearance on my palate. Some hop characteristics but not that noticeable, but thats fine this has soooo much going on and as it warms up to room temp the flavors are even more noticeable.

Everyone who tried this 14 year old ale this evening was super impressed and satisfied, we must have spent literally over an hour after drinking this talking about how amazed we were. It kinda breaks my heart knowing that its gone and I will never in my life taste something like this again.

I was lucky to have this beer over the weekend at The Stuffed Sandwich. My friends and I celebrated by opening the 1996 Xmas ale magnum. Sam chilled it for us in the freezer for 30 mins and then popped the cap for us.

As soon as he did this foam immediately started coming out of the top of the bottle. The first pour has plenty of head that surprised everyone a the table. The aroma was absolutely amazing with lots of spice, chocolate,and hints of bourban. The first taste sent my tounge into over drive tasting large amounts of chocolate, pine, and xmas ale spice. The taste lingered for several minutes on my touge and had me coming me back for more. As the beer began to open the flavor mellowed out and began to taste like a 13 year old beer. The flavors had melded so well that each sip lened itself to another interesting flavor. It also had gained so much complxity that it was hard to pick out indiviual flavors as we got to the end of the bottle.

Believe it or not I lucky to have a 98'xmas ale magnum later that day that tasted awesome, but the 96 tasted fresher and younger. I would highly recommend the 96, but must you must find a place or someone who has stored it correctly. The magnums also seem to last longer due to the fact that there is more beer in the bottle allowing it age more consistanly.

Awesome extra received from calise1122 in a trade awhile ago. Huge thanks for this very unique beer, Brett!

Popped the cap, and spurt of carbonation fizzles out. Good sign. Poured into a pint glass, this pours a very thick, dark mahogany with a thin tan head on top. Some ruby shades to this foam. Retains weakly, and leaves little-to-no lace on the glass. Scents of old apples, prunes, figs, dates, leather, soy...you name it. This is crazy how much "flavor" is in the nose.

The body still retains a good amount of depth and good carbonation bite, almost a little harsh. I wasn't expecting so much "bite" to this. I thought it would be mellow with no carbonation at all. Shows how much I know. Unfortunately, the flavor on this did not do it for me. I think this beer has gone past it's prime. At first sip, I get a wash of old mushy apples and slightly tart cherries. This is what gives this a 1.5 instead of a 1.0: I liked that first sip. As I continue to drink though, this becomes a musty, dry, vinegar-y, dirt-flavored soy sauce. I thought this had characteristics of a good Old Ale, but it became a drain-pour. I hate to admit it, and I very RARELY pour out a beer, but I could not get past the third or fourth sip on this one. This may have been good a few years ago, but it has lost whatever good characteristics were still clinging for dear life long ago.

12 ounce bottle purchased from Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel for six dollars, tasted alongside the 1995 and 1997 vintages last night, poured into my Stone pint glass, color is a dark brown with ruby red edges, 3/4 inch foamy light beige head that stays around for a very long time for a twelve year old beer, aroma consists of spice that is mostly spruce and cinnamon, also vanilla, white pepper, figs, roasted malts, and sweet nutmeg, flavor is somewhat subtle and mild when still chilled, once it warms an array of flavors come to the surface, deep dark chocolate mixed with vanilla at first, roasted malt and spice in the middle, finish is slightly fruity but has a nice rounded spicy character, love how this is so complex and works so well together, vanilla component mixed with the spruce does wonders on the palate, mouthfeel is perfect with a balanced or roasted, slightly sweet, and roasted sensations, medium bodied, still a strong level of carbonation regardless of its time in the cellar, could drink a magnum of this and I am glad I bought one of this vintage, this stuff goes down so easily for its style, what a great warmer for the colder months, I am going to buy as much of this as possible ,the 1996 is my favorite Anchor Xmas beer to date, it has aged incredibly well, will be drinking more in the future but I want to see what another three or four years do to it since it has already aged so well for over a decade, highly recommended

12 fl oz brown bottle; served in nonic.

Pours a thick, syrupy dark walnut in color. A faint filmy sheet provides no noticeable lacing.

Complex toffee and molasses sweetness with a dried, rounded spice profile: nutmeg, mellow brown sugar. Deep, aged fruity esters: raisin, date, and fig that all blend together remarkably well with the warming, mellow alcohol whaffs.

Deep, sweet molasses with notes of rich milk chocolate and caramel. Deep, dark fruity esters lacking a sweetness, which works out rather well: raisin, fig, aged cherry. Notes of earthen, floral hops with a not so dry almond, hazlenut, and nutmeg spice. The finish adds a quick dryness with notes of molasses and hazlenut in the aftertaste.

Almost full in body; almost a watery texture, which is most likely due to aging. I'm still impressed with how this was able to hold up over the years in flavor and somewhat in texture.

A wonderful treat practically 13 years after its creation. The flavors remain dominant with a nice rounded-mellowness, despite the beginning of the texture's demise. If you have been aging this vintage, it's time to crack this one open and enjoy it with some friends.

I decided to break this one out and share it with a friend during my Christmas party. Merry Christmas to us!

Poured a dark mahogany with about a half inch of light tan head. I was surprised to see any head at all since I didn't hear any carbonation when I opened the bottle.

The aroma was of the traditional OSA spices with a touch of sourness and a slight bit of oxidation. Dark fruits also mingled with the spices. Overall, it smelled pretty tasty for being bottled up for so long. Again, I was surprised that scent of all the spices stayed strong for so long.

The flavor is full of malt with a solid spice backbone. Some spruce as well. The sourness came through even more in the flavor, which was unusual compared to my previous experiences with these.

Mouthfeel was good for such an old beer. A little thin with very little carbonation, but that's what I was expecting. It was nice to pop one open during the Holidays, but I am a little bit afraid to see what my other bottles will be like in the next year or two.