Seven Years of Anchor "Our Special Ale"

With winter starting to fade, and spring time appearing, we can take pause and reflect on what is truly great about the colder months... Anchor Christmas Ale. Every year since 1975 the brewers at Anchor have brewed a distinctive and unique Christmas Ale, which is available from early November to mid-January. The Ale's recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which it is offered remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beers/christmasale.htm With some collaborative effort from good friends S. Joe Griffin and Richard Perry, seven years of this beer were brought together for one sit down session of vertical tasting. Unlike previous tastings, I have done, this one was not geared toward delineating any useful ranking of the beers. Instead it was a quest for understanding and appreciating a unique ale as it has evolved and aged. Because of this, there was no blind taste test, just a careful consideration of beer as it existed in front of us. For insight beyond the scope of this blog, check out the original pictures and other opinions from Joe and Richard HERE.

THE BEERS...

2004: This beer is seven years old. Needless to say I did not know what to expect. First off this beer had a fairly surprising and strong aroma. A nice spicy sweet smell. The first sip was thin and light bodied, however the malt is strong and flavorful, with a slightly burnt smokey taste, much like a stout. The spices are muted taste wise as the malt itself is very present. Not a lot of hop bitterness, however the  aftertaste had something piney about it. Overall a very good start to the tasting. The remarkable thing about this beer is how flavorful it was after seven years. Often a beer that has aged for only a year or so looses some of the nuances of added spices. This beer however retained a fair bit of its original flavor. Or, when it was fresh, it was the most flavor packed and spiced beer ever made... 

2005: This beer offered an abrupt change of pace. No real trace was left of the original spices that may have flavored this beer at some point. Instead, the beer had a bit of sourness to it. Not necessarily a wild flavor, but the yeast may have aged out of the beer a bit and caused some weirdness...or goodness depending how you look at it. The malt had a somewhat bourbon like character to it. Not really strong at all, just a hint. The finish was fairly sweet. This beer was good, and just that. It was a little disappointing after the previous year being so flavorful, however this kind of flavor was exactly what I was expecting for a six year old beer. Overall, Likable but forgettable...

2006: Very sweet beginning to this beer. The malt is strong and upfront initially but there is a flatness to this beer. Bland and no dynamics here really, but as the tasting continued, an apparent chocolate like characteristic became present. The burnt flavors of the malt also showed up and it seemed more like a stout that anything else. At this point I really enjoyed it, but not as the Christmas ale I have come to know. The spice had dropped out completely and all that is left is an o.k. stout like ale.

2007: This beer had a strong presence right off the bat. Sweet at first with a very alcohol strong finish. Again, there is a bourbon like taste apparent here. This beer seems more lively than the previous two. Also, the stout like burnt malt taste is not really a large part of the characteristic of this beer as it had been in the others. The malt instead had something more bready going for it. Much like an Anchor Steam beer. At this point I was starting to think that maybe these ales are brewed with malt bases that mirror existing Anchor beers like Steam, Porter, and Bock. Maybe. Either way this beer aged exceptionally well and was a stand out among the others.

2008: This beer had a much drier flavor and feel than any of the ones before. The malt was a little heavier as well. Not a strong malt presence overall, but more spice and complexity apparent here. It seemed that some dried fruit esters were still present from the yeast. It had aged fairly well and was fairly tasty. The standout characteristic here was the more pronounced hop and bitterness that was much  stronger that any other beer here. However, this aspect was not overwhelming. A very balanced, and somewhat spicy amber ale. This beer was not the most interesting out of the bunch, but it definitely held its own over the last couple years.

2009: This beer was very strong and spicy. Being only a year old, I expected this beer to retain some of its original flavor. The beer is light bodied overall. It most resembles the 2004 in terms of spice and aroma and literally tastes like Christmas. Very sweet with a slightly bitter finish. Again the dried fruit notes are present but the interaction of the intense spice and malt with what seems to be a strong yeast works to really round out the flavor of the beer. Honestly this is one of my favorite years. I had it quite a bit in 2009 when it was fresh and I loved it. It hopefully will be one that keeps it's flavor for some years to come. 

2010: This is a much fresher tasting beer obviously. It has everything right about it. A good upfront spicy aroma and taste without being overwhelming. The brewers have balanced these characteristics with a malt that is not heavy or overly stout like. Instead we get a very normal beer taste, kind of  bready, with a hint of burnt malt. It is similar in malt complexity to the 2007 version. However, instead of a Steam like taste, this beer invokes the subtle flavor of the Anchor Humming Ale. This sentiment was shared by Joe. This beer has a noticeable hop flavor as well, which may be adding to the  Humming Ale similarity. Overall this is the most balanced beer here. I have a hunch though that this beer may not age as well as others have. I realize that many of the beers here that seem bland or plain may have been well balanced to begin with  and the loss of  the spice character may  actually "kill" the beer in a sense. Regardless, I am looking forward to next years batch and seeing what this one will do over time.

For the sake of consistency, I did actually decide on my top three favorites of the tasting...

1) 2010

2) 2009

3) 2004   

Seeing as I may never be able to drink a 2004 Christmas ale again and given its potency after seven years of aging, it may be the best beer I have ever had in the grand scheme of things. However, for the task at hand it is placed accurately in relation to the others. 

Until next year...

Sequoia Brewing Co. Fresno, CA

It's been a while... But alas, it is time to get back to writing a little about beer. While I have consumed many good brews over the last few months, I really have not been doing so with the intent of writing anything of interest about them. I have literally just been drinking them for pure enjoyment... a noble reason if I may say so. I could easily write about many of these beers, but without any coherent tasting notes to accompany them, it would just be conjectural rambling and praise most likely. Instead, I had the pleasure of going to a central valley brewery that I may have never gone to if not for my work situation. On the way back from 29 palms California, our crew decided to stop at the Sequoia Brewing Company for lunch. So, here I will give my personal run down of the joint and the brews they offered.

Sequoia Brewing Company Bar & Grill was started in October
of 2003 by Scott and Michele Kendall who purchased Butterfield Brewing Company in February 2000. Butterfield's started in the Spring of 1989 with award winning Brewmaster Kevin Cox in the heart of the historical Tower District, Fresno, California. The Micro Brewing Company and Restaurant is known as a neighborhood icon in Fresno. Scott and Michele changed the name to wholesale their beer throughout the United States. The brewery has a second location in Northeast Fresno in July of 2005 at Piazza del Fiore. (http://www.sequoiabrewing.com) 

As most breweries go, the decor and set-up was fairly standard. Comfortable banquet room adjacent to a more intimate taproom/ gift shop area. The menu offered a fair spread of normal pub grub... nothing particularly inventive or unique. The price point was average, and everyone including me seemed to enjoy their food. However, I was interested in the beer most of all and I ordered the 10 beer sampler as my appetizer... 

Beers: Half-Dome (Hefeweizen-Pale Ale hybrid), Blossom Trail (Wheat orange blossom pale), China Peak Pilsner, Moto Brew (Pale-Ale), Hopfest (Dry Hopped Pale-Ale), General Sherman IPA, Tamarack Amber Ale, Black Oak Porter, Del Oro (Mexican Style Light Ale), and a Seasonal Red IPA.   

Half- Dome: This beer was confusing at first. The Hefe style comes through right away. Good wheat flavor with a little bit of the yeast profile coming through, a little clove taste but not too strong. The more interesting part of this beer is the Pale Ale half which come through as hoppy and little bit a bready malt taste. As you let it sit on the palette, the mixture of both beer styles start to compliment each other and it actually creates a pretty tasty brew. This would be the taste of summertime if I had to be poetic... I enjoyed it! 

Blossom Trail: One of the hands-down oddest beers I have had in a long time. Very pale in color and slightly hazy. The first taste is light wheat taste with very little malt behind it, but the star of this show is the orange blossom honey. It comes towards the end and is very floral in taste. No the least bit hoppy... at all. I am not really a fan of this beer in particular, but it literally achieves its goal as a beer. It is well done and probably enjoyed by many who come here. 

China Peak Pilsner: A fairly standard pilsner in any case. Kind of a sweet maltiness, the hops are skunky and aromatic. I tend to prefer a pilsner a little more on the dry side, but this beer is described as a Kolsch and is therefore an Ale. The name pilsner might not be accurate for this beer, however as a light tasty german-style beer it is pretty spot on. 

Moto Brew: This Pale-Ale seems to adhere to a more conservative variation on the theme. Not very hop driven and more of a light malty ale with some bitterness behind it, I find that it is a little underwhelming. It is more comparable to Oregon varations of pale ale like Mirror Pond from Deschutes. Fairly standard brew, however it would not be my go to beer. 

Hopfest: This beer was good from the first taste to the last. This is easily a well balanced IPA of sorts. Very good up front bitterness, somewhat citrus and floral aromas on the nose, but balanced with a good malt that was dry and a little bready. This one was my favorite of the sampler. I would have easily knocked back a couple of these and been quite content. 

General Sherman IPA: As IPA's go this one is a textbook example. It has a fair amount of hops and malt. Not a ton of aroma coming off of this one, but the bitterness of the hops is upfront enough. I could see this being an old stand-by kinda beer. Nice and strong. I liked it.

Tamarack Amber Ale: As a category, amber ales are kind of ambiguous, the flavor profile is anything but consistent. Basically if the beer is somewhat red in color it can be an amber. That said, this version is quite enjoyable and little bit more than ordinary. The key in my opinion in making one of these beers good is by creating a tasty malt base and only accenting the beer with a mild hop character. This beer does it. Slightly sweet bready malt with alot of flavor, a nice hop finish that gives the beer a little spice at the end. I really like this one. 

Black Oak Porter: Coffee anyone? Yeah, this is definitely a porter. Burnt, sweet and good. Cant really give much more of an opinion on it. A really good porter...

Del Oro: This was kind of an odd ball beer. A mexican style-ale is fairly ambitious. This one is pretty spot on. A light ale with a dry finish. It lacks that distinctive Mexican beer after taste, but a valiant effort none the less. 

Seasonal Red IPA: This beer is a definite double IPA, pretty strong and bit more malt than hop in this one. But the hops do make their presence. Good aroma with nice spicy citrus finish. Not the best IPA on the plate, but a good one worth a second pint or two. 

Overall I enjoyed this place and will probably go back if given the opportunity... good beers for a small operation... until next time!!!