Beer of the Weekend #310: Anchor Christmas Ale 2011
No, I did not forget about Anchor’s annual Christmas Ale. Reviewing it has been a mission of mine all month, as it will be every December for the rest of my life. (I truly hope Anchor continues its dedication of brewing quality beer and its famous Christmas Ale for as long as that may be.) It has become a BotW holiday tradition. However, I wanted to wait until closer to Xmas to try it. I think it is much more fitting that way. So, without further delay…
The beer of the weekend is Anchor Christmas Ale 2011, brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco, California.
My plan was to use my mom’s Christmas Ale 2009 commemorative pint glass but I forgot to get it. I will be spending tomorrow night at my parents’ place so I will definitely use it then.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The clever but stupid (PRINT THE DATE!) freshness code “1NJ” is decrypted to mean this bottle rolled off the line on November 10, 2011.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is dark mahogany with ruddy tones. Three fingers of thick, slightly tanned head dissipated to leave a billowy cap and later a thin lacing with a ring around the edge.
Smell: The cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices are immediately noticeable, and underneath are aromas of caramel, chocolate, cherry, and plum. There is a touch of pine and spruce, or maybe that is my imagination.
Taste: Surprisingly tame for an Anchor Christmas Ale, but it does have a nice smoothness and is very mellow. Toasted malts dominate with flavors of caramel, chocolate, and toffee, and the spices are subdued compared to the smell. The cinnamon and nutmeg are prominent, however, as well as a good dose of earthy hops, pine, and spruce.
Drinkability: This year’s edition lacks the spice intensity from previous versions, which is a little saddening (I really want to point the figure at Anchor’s new corporate lords), but it is still pretty good. It offers both malt smoothness and holiday spice. Technically, it is very drinkable and should probably appeal to a broader range of palates than previous editions.
Fun facts about ACA ’11:
-Style: BA classifies it as Winter Warmer. Anchor, of course, keeps its mouth zipped. Frankly, it is beyond classification.
-Price: $10.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Co-op on 22 South Van Buren Street in Iowa City. It was the last sixer there that day. And the only reason I bought it at the Co-op was because John’s was out of six-packs; all they had left were the massive “Magnum” bottles.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: The Anchor website says it varies, which it does from year to year, but the label pegs the ABV at 5.5 percent.
-Food pairings: There are a few quick recommendations in this cool video:
-As the movie mentions, each label is hand drawn and features a different tree every year. This year the tree is a bristlecone pine. Here is some info from the beer’s webpage:
The Anchor website was redesigned since my list visit and the Christmas Ale page no longer features the cool slider showcasing the labels since 1975.
-A couple weeks ago Bobblehead compared the 2010 version (he saved a bottle from last year) with the 2011 version, back-to-back. I took a whiff of both and have to say the 2011 version is, in terms of spiciness, much less intense.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
The beer of the weekend is Anchor Christmas Ale 2011, brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco, California.
My plan was to use my mom’s Christmas Ale 2009 commemorative pint glass but I forgot to get it. I will be spending tomorrow night at my parents’ place so I will definitely use it then.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The clever but stupid (PRINT THE DATE!) freshness code “1NJ” is decrypted to mean this bottle rolled off the line on November 10, 2011.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is dark mahogany with ruddy tones. Three fingers of thick, slightly tanned head dissipated to leave a billowy cap and later a thin lacing with a ring around the edge.
Smell: The cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices are immediately noticeable, and underneath are aromas of caramel, chocolate, cherry, and plum. There is a touch of pine and spruce, or maybe that is my imagination.
Taste: Surprisingly tame for an Anchor Christmas Ale, but it does have a nice smoothness and is very mellow. Toasted malts dominate with flavors of caramel, chocolate, and toffee, and the spices are subdued compared to the smell. The cinnamon and nutmeg are prominent, however, as well as a good dose of earthy hops, pine, and spruce.
Drinkability: This year’s edition lacks the spice intensity from previous versions, which is a little saddening (I really want to point the figure at Anchor’s new corporate lords), but it is still pretty good. It offers both malt smoothness and holiday spice. Technically, it is very drinkable and should probably appeal to a broader range of palates than previous editions.
Fun facts about ACA ’11:
-Style: BA classifies it as Winter Warmer. Anchor, of course, keeps its mouth zipped. Frankly, it is beyond classification.
-Price: $10.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Co-op on 22 South Van Buren Street in Iowa City. It was the last sixer there that day. And the only reason I bought it at the Co-op was because John’s was out of six-packs; all they had left were the massive “Magnum” bottles.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: The Anchor website says it varies, which it does from year to year, but the label pegs the ABV at 5.5 percent.
-Food pairings: There are a few quick recommendations in this cool video:
-As the movie mentions, each label is hand drawn and features a different tree every year. This year the tree is a bristlecone pine. Here is some info from the beer’s webpage:
Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. Our tree for 2011 is the bristlecone pine. Found high atop California's White Mountains, bristlecones are among the oldest living things on the planet. Some date back nearly 5,000 years, to the dawn of the ancient art of brewing.
The Anchor website was redesigned since my list visit and the Christmas Ale page no longer features the cool slider showcasing the labels since 1975.
-A couple weeks ago Bobblehead compared the 2010 version (he saved a bottle from last year) with the 2011 version, back-to-back. I took a whiff of both and have to say the 2011 version is, in terms of spiciness, much less intense.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
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