Why We Picked It: We always like to have Anchor Steam Merry Christmas in 24DOB as the recipe deviates probably more than most of the annual holiday brews. Others tweak in strength and amount of ingredients, but the entire taste can shift with Achor Steam. Also,note that they change that label every year and employ a different artist.
What Anchor Steam Says About It: The 2020 Anchor Christmas Ale is a one-of-a-kind, featuring the highest ABV at 7% and darkest appearance of any vintage. Yet, this year’s release is easy-drinking and approachable for everyone at a holiday gathering or virtual event.
Anchor’s 2020 Christmas Ale is silky-smooth and layered with classic holiday flavors of chocolate, toasted marshmallows and graham crackers - perfect for enjoying at the end of the meal, or around a fire with close friends. This winter warmer teems with aromas of fresh coffee and dark chocolate, and pours with a tight, creamy cappuccino-colored head.
Each year a new symbolic hand-drawn tree is chosen for the Christmas Ale label. This year’s label features The Three Graces; three iconic towering sequoias from the Mariposa Grove in California’s Yosemite National Park. This is only the second time in its 46-year history that multiple trees are shown together on the label, a fitting statement to symbolize togetherness and hope in a year when so much time has been spent apart. The Three Graces represent radiance, joy, and flowering – characteristics that we can all hold near during this unprecedented time.
Style: Winter Warmer
ABV: 7%
IBU: 40
Website: https://www.anchorbrewing.com/
To Better Know A Brewery: Our annual Christmas Ale is a subtly spiced and sumptuously smooth winter warmer. This year’s brew marks the 46th annual release of this Anchor holiday tradition. Back in 1975, Anchor released the first holiday beer in America since Prohibition. Year after year, Anchor creates a new, secret recipe with a unique hand drawn label for their Christmas Ale, but the intent with each brew remains the same: joy for the changing seasons and celebration of the newness of life. With a heavily guarded, confidential recipe, Christmas Ale is sold only from early November to mid-January.
Go to https://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/christmas_ale/labels and vote here for your favorite year/tree label.
ReplyDeleteMine is Greek Fir, Abies cephalonica. I was a little surprised they have used this tree, it is native to the region in Greece where a grew up.
Well I wasn't waiting late for this one. Cracked it open for the Seahawks first half domination of the Skins. Maybe I should have nursed it a bit longer, because they really started slipping after I finished this beer. Hopefully, the Celebration returns a better performance.
ReplyDeleteAs for the beer, it was a decent and flavorful. Not nearly as complex as the description. Indeed, I would have love to find a little graham cracker in there, but mostly just a subtle chocolate and a bit of coffee with a smooth package. It was fine, but definitely felt like it was missing something. 2.75 out of 5 Russell Wilsons.
Just returned from a weekend at the in-laws and this is a nice way to wind down. I know I have had this a few times over the years. I remember liking this much more than I am this time around. That being said, It is a very good holiday beer and it is certainly festive.
ReplyDeleteWho comes up with these beer classifications. Winter warmer, really?!
ReplyDeleteI just ate a homemade ginger snap cookie and I'm washing it down with this beer. Something tells me this sequence of events will bias my opinion.
Well, if it normally sucks, it tastes great with that cookie. It has a slight malty flavor maybe cocoa, but to me a definite piney flavor that comes with a bitterness to it.
So far, best execution of these darker, thicker, maltier beers we've been trying. On a 1-5 relativity scale this is a 4.5/5 Sequoia Trio Bel Canto
I know I'm repeating myself here, but I've got a long and mixed relationship with Anchor Steam. Good friend of mine who I played frisbee with in the late nineties was convinced this was the greatest beer ever. He constantly drank it and brought it everywhere he went so I ended up with a lot. Always preferred Sierra better. At his wedding (the Wong-Swallow wedding), he had two kegs of it for about 80 guests to go along with many cases of wine and a full bar. Needless to say there were some leftovers so 28 year old Bill decided that of course I would agree to return the kegs to Baltimore on a Monday night after trying to finish them at my Adams-Morgan condo on Sunday. That got ugly as did the hungover drive back to Baltimore with two empty kegs that had sat in my trunk all day in the parking garage at work on a 90 degree day. In more recent news, I was at a wedding at the Cliff House in San Francisco (the Huang-Huang wedding) a few years back (which just announced it's closing this last week). The only beer they had was Anchor Steam and I decided I didn't want that so I switched to gin and tonics poured by some heavy-handed 16 year old. Let's just say a vintage mannequin got tackled that night and ended up losing a finger.
ReplyDeleteJust spent some time going through the historical records on this beer. I believe we have had this in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2019. And for some godforsaken reason, I chose to have one on my own in 2016. 2012 still stands out and not in a good way. I actually poured part of the second one of those down the drain back when Ro and I used to get 24 beers each and she rejected it soundly. 2014 was actually quite tasty. The last three were all thick and hoppy and not in a good way. This one lacks the pine which is nice and doesn't seem to be so motor oilish, but it still has some strange aftertaste which I'm not digging. It's like Bell's but more offensive. I mean it's definitely not bad, but I'd like it better without that aftertaste. For the Anchor Christmas beer I give his 4 out of 5 Nick Mullens but compared to all other beers, it comes in at only 2.9 Nick Mullens.
This beer is an example of why I love the 24 days of beer. I would never buy this beer. Never. But it's great to taste something different and be reminded of the incredible range of tastes you can get in beer.
ReplyDeleteNot a bad beer. A little malty a little chocolate...everything else in rye description I got none of it. I feel like sometimes these breweries make up the description then set out to make a beer that matches it. While I thought it was a nice enjoyable beer to sip during halftime of the chiefs game not as complex as advertised. 3.75 out of 5.
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favorite of the "Christmas" beers so far. I did think it had something of a "warm" taste, and I really liked the toasty-malty-chocolatey-darkwood vibe that it has going on. This is the sort of thing that I hope to get from a Christmas beer, so hats off to Anchor Steam. 4/5 "I am very, very pleased with you, 'Anchor Steam Beer' from me."
ReplyDeleteExpected more flavor based on the appearance and description but it was good and went down quick. 3/4
ReplyDeleteGood solid holiday beer...always like to get this one each Christmas season. I like how they tweak the recipe each year...fun.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Untappd the last one of these I had was in Paris almost three years ago - seems so far away these days. This year's edition was OK - a little middle of the road flavor wise with nothing really standing out but certainly drinkable. A little bit of an aftertaste I couldn't put my finger on.
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer their more overbearing versions. This one is just boring compared to the others
ReplyDelete