Beer Revisited: Anchor Christmas Ale 2009
I think it is finally time for me to drink my last bottle of Anchor Christmas Ale 2009 — the first beer I have ever aged.
After spending one year in the cooler at the Mervgotti Distributing warehouse, my bottle of 2009 has been aging in the fridge in my parents’ basement since 2010. I thought about drinking it last Christmas but decided to let it sit a while longer.
How much longer? At the time I had no clue. There are a few beer enthusiasts out there who are still opening vintage Christmas Ale’s from the early- and mid-eighties, so I was thinking long-term. Not quite two decades, but five to ten years seemed adequate. However, I decided against that after chatting with Joe Hotek earlier this month. He said he no longer ages anything longer than a year. (He recently dumped beers he had been aging because he let them sit too long.) Instead of “cellaring” beers for years, he recommended drinking a fresh bottle and storing others for later; drink another after six months and one more after a year. That way one can taste the difference as the flavors and aromas change during the maturation process. I have not done much research on aging beers but think Hotek’s advice is good and plan to use it until I hear otherwise. So I decided it was time to revisit Beer of the Weekend #189.
On that note: not only is Christmas Ale 2009 the first beer I have purposefully aged, it is also the first beer I have ever revisited in the BotW series. I have always wanted to revisit beers I tried in the past and wondered how to do it. It is now crunch time and I need to figure it out. Instead of simply providing a link to the previous post, I have decided to paste the old aroma and flavor notes for comparison. They appear above tonight’s tasting notes in italics. I will, of course, be drinking the beer before pasting to avoid any unwanted influences.
Here we go!
The beer tonight is Anchor Christmas Ale 2009, brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco, California.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The bottling code stamped on the back label is “9OV,” which is deciphered to mean it was bottled on October 22, 2009. That day, as I previously noted, was my twenty-seventh birthday and the day I toured Anchor’s brewery.
Appearance:
2010: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is a ruby brown. Two fingers of slightly tanned head developed and dissipated to leave a paper-thin lacing and ring around the edge.
Tonight: Poured thick and slowly into my commemorative Christmas Ale 2009 pint glass (bought the same day I toured the brewery and this bottle was filled). The color is dark ruby-brown. A finger of light tan head dissipated after a minute to leave a thin skim and ring around the edge. A small ring of sedimentation has settled to the bottom of the bottle. I should have left a little and swirled it just in case but was not thinking.
Smell:
2010: Very Christmas-like. Cinnamon spice is most noticeable, and there is a hint of pine as well. Toasted chocolate, caramel, nutmeg, and dark fruit (something like figs) follows.
Tonight: Very aromatic and enticing. The spice was immediately noticeable after popping the cap; I can even smell it from an arm’s length away. Up close, with my nose in the glass, I get cinnamon, pine, ginger, sweet caramel, toffee, molasses, chocolate, cherry licorice, black raspberry jam, plum, and fig.
Taste:
2010: Mirrors the aroma, but is very smooth and the flavors create a nice, balanced medley. There is immediately cinnamon and a little pine spice, which is tamed by the usual suspects from the smell: toasted chocolate, caramel, nutmeg, and fig.
Tonight: The mouthfeel is very full and aerated. At first the taste seems subdued compared to the aroma, but the flavors slowly emerge. The cinnamon and pine spice predominate but are balanced by toasted malts, caramel, toffee, chocolate, and molasses. The dark fruits are hiding in the background but they do offer a generalized flavor; there is a hint of banana, too. At the end of each sip is pepper spice. I just gave J-Rod a couple sips and he said it has some smokiness and barrel-aged brandy flavors. I can see that; it does have that matured taste to it, though I did not know my parents’ fridge imparted that kind of flavor. As it continues to warm, it offers flavors of honey, syrup, and brandy, though without the booziness.
Drinkability:
2010: Good stuff, and good luck getting a bottle.
Tonight: Excellent. I highly doubt I will ever get the chance to drink this beer again so I have enjoyed this bottle from start to finish. Damn, that was good stuff! Well worth the wait. Who knew the last decade tasted so well?
So, based on my notes, how has the beer changed? Frankly, I wonder if I have changed more than the beer has. My notes from tonight are much more detailed than those I took two years ago. Granted, I was being very careful and observant tonight since this is a special occasion, so that could be the major difference. Plus, I have officially tasted over 200 beers since then. That added experience, I want to think, has to account for something. Nonetheless, it seems the beer aged very well; its aroma and flavor profiles became much more complex. I missed the nutmeg this time around (though it could have been there; what was I saying about experience?), but the beer gained a robust array of spice, dark fruits, and malt qualities.
Opening and drinking this bottle was emotionally tough for me. Beer is meant to be enjoyed, but I have trouble parting with the things I save. I was torn between practicality and sentimentality. However, one cannot keep beer forever and I was going to drink it at some point. It was better to do it now than inadvertently wait too long. Assuaging my apprehension is the fact the beer aged well and that my first aging experiment was a success. Needless to say, I plan to save a bottle of Christmas Ale each year for aging and comparison from now on. If all goes well, I will open my magnum bottle of 2011 this weekend.
After spending one year in the cooler at the Mervgotti Distributing warehouse, my bottle of 2009 has been aging in the fridge in my parents’ basement since 2010. I thought about drinking it last Christmas but decided to let it sit a while longer.
How much longer? At the time I had no clue. There are a few beer enthusiasts out there who are still opening vintage Christmas Ale’s from the early- and mid-eighties, so I was thinking long-term. Not quite two decades, but five to ten years seemed adequate. However, I decided against that after chatting with Joe Hotek earlier this month. He said he no longer ages anything longer than a year. (He recently dumped beers he had been aging because he let them sit too long.) Instead of “cellaring” beers for years, he recommended drinking a fresh bottle and storing others for later; drink another after six months and one more after a year. That way one can taste the difference as the flavors and aromas change during the maturation process. I have not done much research on aging beers but think Hotek’s advice is good and plan to use it until I hear otherwise. So I decided it was time to revisit Beer of the Weekend #189.
On that note: not only is Christmas Ale 2009 the first beer I have purposefully aged, it is also the first beer I have ever revisited in the BotW series. I have always wanted to revisit beers I tried in the past and wondered how to do it. It is now crunch time and I need to figure it out. Instead of simply providing a link to the previous post, I have decided to paste the old aroma and flavor notes for comparison. They appear above tonight’s tasting notes in italics. I will, of course, be drinking the beer before pasting to avoid any unwanted influences.
Here we go!
The beer tonight is Anchor Christmas Ale 2009, brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco, California.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The bottling code stamped on the back label is “9OV,” which is deciphered to mean it was bottled on October 22, 2009. That day, as I previously noted, was my twenty-seventh birthday and the day I toured Anchor’s brewery.
Appearance:
2010: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is a ruby brown. Two fingers of slightly tanned head developed and dissipated to leave a paper-thin lacing and ring around the edge.
Tonight: Poured thick and slowly into my commemorative Christmas Ale 2009 pint glass (bought the same day I toured the brewery and this bottle was filled). The color is dark ruby-brown. A finger of light tan head dissipated after a minute to leave a thin skim and ring around the edge. A small ring of sedimentation has settled to the bottom of the bottle. I should have left a little and swirled it just in case but was not thinking.
Smell:
2010: Very Christmas-like. Cinnamon spice is most noticeable, and there is a hint of pine as well. Toasted chocolate, caramel, nutmeg, and dark fruit (something like figs) follows.
Tonight: Very aromatic and enticing. The spice was immediately noticeable after popping the cap; I can even smell it from an arm’s length away. Up close, with my nose in the glass, I get cinnamon, pine, ginger, sweet caramel, toffee, molasses, chocolate, cherry licorice, black raspberry jam, plum, and fig.
Taste:
2010: Mirrors the aroma, but is very smooth and the flavors create a nice, balanced medley. There is immediately cinnamon and a little pine spice, which is tamed by the usual suspects from the smell: toasted chocolate, caramel, nutmeg, and fig.
Tonight: The mouthfeel is very full and aerated. At first the taste seems subdued compared to the aroma, but the flavors slowly emerge. The cinnamon and pine spice predominate but are balanced by toasted malts, caramel, toffee, chocolate, and molasses. The dark fruits are hiding in the background but they do offer a generalized flavor; there is a hint of banana, too. At the end of each sip is pepper spice. I just gave J-Rod a couple sips and he said it has some smokiness and barrel-aged brandy flavors. I can see that; it does have that matured taste to it, though I did not know my parents’ fridge imparted that kind of flavor. As it continues to warm, it offers flavors of honey, syrup, and brandy, though without the booziness.
Drinkability:
2010: Good stuff, and good luck getting a bottle.
Tonight: Excellent. I highly doubt I will ever get the chance to drink this beer again so I have enjoyed this bottle from start to finish. Damn, that was good stuff! Well worth the wait. Who knew the last decade tasted so well?
So, based on my notes, how has the beer changed? Frankly, I wonder if I have changed more than the beer has. My notes from tonight are much more detailed than those I took two years ago. Granted, I was being very careful and observant tonight since this is a special occasion, so that could be the major difference. Plus, I have officially tasted over 200 beers since then. That added experience, I want to think, has to account for something. Nonetheless, it seems the beer aged very well; its aroma and flavor profiles became much more complex. I missed the nutmeg this time around (though it could have been there; what was I saying about experience?), but the beer gained a robust array of spice, dark fruits, and malt qualities.
Opening and drinking this bottle was emotionally tough for me. Beer is meant to be enjoyed, but I have trouble parting with the things I save. I was torn between practicality and sentimentality. However, one cannot keep beer forever and I was going to drink it at some point. It was better to do it now than inadvertently wait too long. Assuaging my apprehension is the fact the beer aged well and that my first aging experiment was a success. Needless to say, I plan to save a bottle of Christmas Ale each year for aging and comparison from now on. If all goes well, I will open my magnum bottle of 2011 this weekend.
