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Our Special Ale 2016 (Anchor Christmas Ale)
Anchor Brewing Company
- From:
- Anchor Brewing Company
- California, United States
- Style:
- Winter Warmer
- ABV:
- 6.5%
- Score:
- 88
- Avg:
- 3.94 | pDev: 8.88%
- Reviews:
- 82
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jan 04, 2022
- Added:
- Nov 03, 2016
- Wants:
- 2
- Gots:
- 54
The 2016 Christmas Ale is a deep mahogany brown with a creamy, tan head and boasts aromas of fruitcake, molasses, and fresh cut wood. The beer tastes of a roasted caramel malt, with notes of spiced chocolate and nuts. And it has a rich, smooth, and velvety mouthfeel. Every year the Anchor brewers look forward to formulating a new Christmas Ale recipe and tasting the fruits of their labors. We are always excited to please beer fans with its ever-changing recipe and label. Cheers from the Anchor brewers!
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by wander4:
Rated by wander4 from New Jersey
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Dec 22, 2016
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Dec 22, 2016
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by rorjets from Connecticut
4.11/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.11/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Poured from the bottle into a snifter glass. Caramel colored head with decent lacing. Sweet, maple syrup aroma. The first sip has malty, maple syrup and banana-nut bread flavors, quite delicious, with a nice hoppy finish.
Apr 11, 2021Reviewed by Cuervo_PCB from Florida
4.75/5 rDev +20.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.75/5 rDev +20.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Had the magnum cellared since 2016 and was waiting for a special occasion. I figured of all years Christmas 2020 it was needed. It poured a deep dark black with the great aroma. I don’t know if it was The stress of the COVID year but it tasted better than years past. It brought back so many great memories of running around Northern California. It was Christmas Spirit in a glass. Cheers!
Dec 26, 2020Reviewed by TooManyGlasses from Canada (AB)
4.08/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.08/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
2 and 1/2 year old from my cellar on heels of 2018 last week. This pours an almost black with 1/2 finger creamy light tan head
The aroma is amazingly Christmas - wonderful cinnamon, nutmeg, clove but with a malty sweetness not in fresher beer. The taste follows with caramel - toffee sweetness with the spices accenting - some raisin bread notes.
Mouthfeel medium and appropriate - carbonation well maintained - leaving with malty sweetness, hints of sherry and a touch of bitterness. Loved the age on this.
Mar 19, 2019The aroma is amazingly Christmas - wonderful cinnamon, nutmeg, clove but with a malty sweetness not in fresher beer. The taste follows with caramel - toffee sweetness with the spices accenting - some raisin bread notes.
Mouthfeel medium and appropriate - carbonation well maintained - leaving with malty sweetness, hints of sherry and a touch of bitterness. Loved the age on this.
Reviewed by PatrickCT from Connecticut
4.24/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.24/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Black body with touches of ruby around the edges held up to the light. Foam beige head, about a finger, dies down quickly leaving a pencil thin ring and some spotty lace.
Nice delicate aroma of coffee, roasted malts, molasses and plums.
The taste follows the nose with roasted malts, faint molasses and weak coffee, bigger dark stone fruit with plum and cherries and a nice bite of ginger in the finish.
Smooth mouth feel, medium body, medium carbonation. Dry finish.
Dec 30, 2018Nice delicate aroma of coffee, roasted malts, molasses and plums.
The taste follows the nose with roasted malts, faint molasses and weak coffee, bigger dark stone fruit with plum and cherries and a nice bite of ginger in the finish.
Smooth mouth feel, medium body, medium carbonation. Dry finish.
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Anchor Brewing Co. "Our Special Ale 2016"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle
Notes via stream of consciousness: I remember when Our Special Ale used to vary wildly from year to year, but they've smoothed that out. There's some difference, but not much. Of course if I had two or three year's worth of bottles in front of me to taste side by side I might not say that. And I guess another thing is that this is almost a year old by now, which should have softened it a bit. It's a mahogany brown in color beneath a frothy and then rocky head of light tan that holds quite well and leaves some very nice lacing behind. The aroma is bready with some dark, almost-burnt-sugar-like caramel, and spicy, and piney. There's a little bit of perhaps red berry-like fruitiness as well and that comes through in the flavor, surrounded by the previously mentioned notes, and a little bit more of a molasses/brown sugar side with a hint of chocolate. It's a little bit toasty, slightly nutty and toffee-ish, and maybe with some dark dried fruit as well - and the spices have been toned down this year and simply swirl about without ever really being too clear in what they are (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). It has a dry, bitter finish but I'm not sure how much that has to do with the bitterness, and how much that has to do with the pine and spice. Medium-bodied and gently crisp. Nice.
Sep 01, 201712 fl. oz. brown glass bottle
Notes via stream of consciousness: I remember when Our Special Ale used to vary wildly from year to year, but they've smoothed that out. There's some difference, but not much. Of course if I had two or three year's worth of bottles in front of me to taste side by side I might not say that. And I guess another thing is that this is almost a year old by now, which should have softened it a bit. It's a mahogany brown in color beneath a frothy and then rocky head of light tan that holds quite well and leaves some very nice lacing behind. The aroma is bready with some dark, almost-burnt-sugar-like caramel, and spicy, and piney. There's a little bit of perhaps red berry-like fruitiness as well and that comes through in the flavor, surrounded by the previously mentioned notes, and a little bit more of a molasses/brown sugar side with a hint of chocolate. It's a little bit toasty, slightly nutty and toffee-ish, and maybe with some dark dried fruit as well - and the spices have been toned down this year and simply swirl about without ever really being too clear in what they are (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). It has a dry, bitter finish but I'm not sure how much that has to do with the bitterness, and how much that has to do with the pine and spice. Medium-bodied and gently crisp. Nice.
Our Special Ale 2016 (Anchor Christmas Ale) from Anchor Brewing Company
Beer rating:
88 out of
100 with
234 ratings
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