Why we picked it: Because it is a seasonal Christmas beer.
About Anchor's Christmas Ale: Each year since 1975, Anchor Brewing creates a distinctive Christmas Ale, available from early November to mid-January. A rich, dark spiced ale, our secret recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent 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. Our tree for 2012 is the Norfolk Island pine. Captain Cook discovered this South Seas isle and its native tree in 1774. These tropical-looking conifers, which thrive in sandy soil and coastal climes, were first planted in California in the 1850s. The Norfolk Island pine on this year’s label, hand drawn from life, resides in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Each year our Christmas Ale gets a unique label and a unique recipe. Although our recipes must remain a secret, many save a few bottles from year to year. Properly refrigerated, the beer remains intriguing and drinkable for years. Different nuances emerge as the flavor mellows slightly, much like the memories of great holiday seasons past. Celebrate the holidays with Anchor Christmas Ale, an Anchor tradition since 1975.
ABV: 5.5%
Case Cost: $44
*website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/christmas_ale
You'll be wishing for some nectar after this one. Prepare to eat pine tree
ReplyDeleteI apologize to all for coming late to the scene. I got caught up with work and then a trip to do some snowboarding in Colorado. Welcome to all the new beer lovers joining us and a warm greeting to those of you that have been with us the whole time. Amazing start to these 24 days of beer. I have been very pleased by the Virginia beer I tasted last night and the 5 I have enjoyed after closing the restaurant tonight. Needless to say I am a bit shitty right now. Anchor steam x-mas....I woulld gladly bring a 12 pack to any Christmas party. Holiday spices of ginger and cinnamon...yummy and rich....would not want to drink more than 3 of these in1 sitting though. Nice roast on the malt and great holiday flavor. Those of you who haven't been along the whole ride...I like to rate beer by how I would integrate it into my life. That (in my very humble opinion) is how we sould treat all of the things in our life that we love...
ReplyDeleteSnowboarding in Colorado and return to your restaurant and drink 6 exotic beers? Are you in fact the worlds most interesting man?
DeleteHaven't tried it yet but I can already tell its gonna be a rough one.
ReplyDeleteTony - where is the IBU on this beer? I'm actually finding this quite helpful in preparing me for what to expect.
ReplyDeleteNo IBU info on this one. I post the information I can find.
DeleteThis is what it must be like to drink perfume...
ReplyDeleteI think I swallowed some tinsel from my Christmas tree. I've had this before but from one of those big magnum bottles. Beers out of magnum bottles always taste better much like beers out of cans. That's my explanation because this one from a 12 ounce bottle is pretty awful.
ReplyDeleteSo I pour it and am amazed on how thick it is and outrageously foamy it is and continued to overflow from my cup onto the counter (spooky forwarding I guess). and then I tasted it and can't figure out what the spices are . . pine needles and tinsel were helpful comments that were posted but I can honestly say I have no clue. As I continued to taste it the weird taste got stronger and it had a hint bitter aftertaste (burnt coffee??? maybe). Anyway, this beer sucked the big one.
ReplyDeleteRating: 4
I think it's tastes weird, which means Bill will probably think it tastes normal.
ReplyDeleteIt's like a Guinness only crappy. Not a fan.
ReplyDeleteI prefer not to drink my Xmas tree, but rather enjoy the aroma and look at the pretty lights and decorations. Not a big fan of this one.
ReplyDeleteGood beer Thursday....Bob, Tony and Schulz know what I'm talking about. I was prepared to hate this beer but was surprisingly pleased. Tastes like Christmas, but not in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteI have always found Anchor Steam to be horribly overrated. A lot of people I know who seem to know beer love the stuff. I chalk that up to the same symptom that probably leads to me loving Sierra Nevada, it's the first decent beer they ever had. So I guess I'm lucky that it took me a while to drink my first Anchor Steam. Now don't get me wrong, I've had some good experiences with Anchor Steam. There was the time I got to take home the leftover keg from a wedding and so I had an impromptu raging kegger at my place on a Sunday afternoon. That went great until some coked up Columbian started dancing to the macarena and asking my wife if she'd go home with him. Finally we got rid of him. And the next day I got to experience the glory of returning the keg hungover to Baltimore in evening rush hour when it was 95 degrees and it had been sitting in my trunk all day. Nearly had to burn that car. Another great experience was two years ago when some clueless woman in my office bought 6 of the magnums of this thinking it was wine. Sure tasted good that day, but as John mentioned, all beer is always better in magnum form. And I was already drunk. Which I wish I'd been tonight.
ReplyDeleteI find the regular Anchor Steam to be too thick and sweet. But this concoction makes regular Anchor Steam taste like the WGB (Miller Lite). Or water. I think I'm literally chewing. Definitely can't pour this down the gutter or the Chesapeake will never recover.
A problem I've noticed with this idea of having both Ro and I participate is that when she hates a beer such as this or the doggie beer, I get to drink two. And I can't just throw them away since it's still beer (and it might destroy my plumbing). So I drink them. Although I am concerned about the effects on my personal plumbing.
Of course, Anchor Steam is so damn arrogant, they won't even tell you what's in it. I'm going with cherries, redwoods, and fracking fluid.
Out of the 6 we've had so far, I rate this a distant 8th.
Very spicy, but I do not taste the pine needles mentioned above. It would be hard for me to drink more than one, but this type of beer is why I love the 24 days of beer. I would probably never buy a six pack, but it makes for a nice treat savored on a cold weeknight. I guess that I am not too discriminating, but I have yet to dislike a beer enough not to finish it and write a least one positive thing :) Good job Tony and Mark!
ReplyDeleteWell, A for effort. This tastes exactly like Christmas. It's like they took a Christmas tree and pureed it down, added some Miller Lite and bottled it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the picture this morning, I was really looking forward to this beer all day. It didn't have the taste that I envisioned but it was still good. Give it to the hippies of San Fran, this beer was real good. It had a slight coffee taste which made a great slow drinking beer and I look forward to having it again when I find it next. 8 out of 10.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note I learned from Tony's post about yesterday's beer that you can class up binge drinking by calling it "session drinking." Looking forward to doing some "session drinking" this weekend at Santa Stumble.
I'm finding I may have to come up with more creative names for the Santa Stumble soon when explaining it to my 10 and 7 yr old. Though things were a bit awkward after a Terps tailgate a couple weeks ago when I returned at 6:30PM, blind drunk with Maurelli, and demanded my wife to take us to Silver Diner for pancakes with 10 yr old in tow. Thankfully I was too drunk to notice any, "Daddy's acting weird mommmy" moments. My wife on the other hand...that poor soul.
DeletePhill, by waiting all day did you really mean waiting until you woke up and drinking it right away? ;)
ReplyDeletewoke up and drinking it right away? how bout woke up with it in my hand and already half drunk.
DeleteJonny Ringo agrees with Bill. Took four sips and opened a Heineken. I could drink this thing, if I was drunk as hell, but even then I'm not so sure. The Red Nectar from yesterday was much better.
ReplyDeleteIts end of first quarter, and I am considering switching to Heat-Knicks game permanently.
ReplyDeleteDidn't love it, didn't hate it. I would give it a solid C+.
ReplyDeleteI had high hopes on this beer, but was disappointed. I didn't notice any of this pine taste, so I'm thinking there was some kind of psychosomatic thing working based on the label. However it was a little too sludgy/creamy for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteGrade: Job Interview
McNary job interview or the job interview of a more normal and responsible person?
Delete"Properly refrigerated, the beer remains intriguing and drinkable for years."
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm guessing my bottle of this beer was never refrigerated.
This was pretty bad -- especially after yesterday's enjoyable Red Nectar.
This does not taste like a beer to me. I almost want to say it taste kind of like a root beer soda at first Weird taste and weird aftertaste. I finished it, but it took me a long time and can't really say I enjoyed it. 5 out of 10, D+
ReplyDeleteWe drank this beer while flipping back and forth to a rerun of Anchorman, and found the perfect description for this beer: "I'll be honest Brian, that smells like pure gasoline."
ReplyDeleteJustin thought it tasted more like fortified wine than beer. I thought it was actually pretty thin, given all the top notes. A smoky charcoal aftertaste which was pretty good, but otherwise, wouldn't want to have any more of these.
If they only spent half as much time with working on the taste as they did with that label. This beer reminds me of being in a car with 36 pine tree air fresheners. Christina said it tasted like pot, so there's that. Who wants another High Hell Watermelon! Tony picked this one.
ReplyDeleteFing Horrendous!! If a choice between drinking this beer and toilet water, I would easily choose toliet
ReplyDeleteI think this is the 6th year or so that I have enjoyed the Anchor Xmas release. Definitely not many beers like it, but I think it is great. Notes of spices and dark fruits. They say the recipe changes every year, but it always seems to be pretty much the same to me. A-.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is bad....and the aftertaste -- yikes. I am going upstairs to brush my tongue.
ReplyDeleteI always find Anchor Steam a fine beer that doesn't wow me, but is a solid beer. The Xmas brew is about the same. I didn't find the pine as overwhelming as others and I found it very drinkable. Grade: 6.5/10
ReplyDeleteI liked the mix of spices. Better than a lot of Christmas Beers.
ReplyDelete