Anchor Brewing Company's Our Special Ale 2009

I thought the in-laws would never leave.

Finally found the 2009 offering of Anchor's winter warmer. This is traditionally one of the smoothest, silkiest, most complex of the winter warmers. I know that sounds goofy, but this is always a great beer. Different every year, it's always somewhat similar, and always great.

This year appears to be no exception. It pours the usual deep coppery brown with a nice but smallish dark tan head. It looks like a dopplebock.

Smells like a warm, dark bread.

Nice and smooth, with probably the lowest bitterness of any warmer I've had. Slightly nutty, still mostly bready, and a great body that feels like a medium-sized stout. It keeps the bready smell and taste, but as the glass gets empty and it gets warmer it takes on a deep ripe fruit smell that is kind of indistinct but sweet and deep.

Very good beer. I have a sixer held back to see how it ages, and I bet it keeps getting better.

Anchor Brewing Company's Anchor Steam Beer

I know half the world is mad at this brewery for trade marking "Steam," a beer style, as this beer's name, but I could care less. They're one of the original modern craft brewers, and they do a great job so they're entitled to it as far as I'm concerned.

This one pours a clear orangish amer with a great pillowy light tan head that very slowly thins to a thick sheet. Geat bready, malty, complex smell. Hint of sweetness, slightly peppery.

Solid. One of the best and most thought-out breweries in the US, and this is a great example of why. It's supposed to be 'common,' but it's anything but. Mild bitterness that is neither grassy or brash, with a continued malty taste that loses the sweetness and holds up a good body as well. Like a mild amber or pale, with all the body, but it's done better than most. One of the best lighter bodied beers in the US, from one of the best and most consistent breweries.

Anchor Brewing Company's Old Foghorn Barleywine

Another of my favorite seasonals from this excellent brewery, Old Foghorn packs a decent punch.

Pours a deep copper that you can't quite see through until it settles, with a huge pillowy tan head. Slow, small carbonation.

As the head recedes it throws off an almost bourbon smell, but the sharp bourbon smell fades just a bit to allow a sweet bready smell to come through. The hops don't really stand a chance against that much malt and alcohol, but it's under there somewhere.

You know, I think Belgian monks could fast longer on a barleywine than a quad. This is almost meaty. Foghorn has more bourbon flavor than other barleywines, and it's a little sweeter than my favorites, but it's hard to make a beer with this large of a grain bill without it coming across as sweet and bready. And the bready I like, the more the better, but the man flaw in this one is that it's a bit too sweet. And I don't remember that it had such a bourbon hit to it last year, which is also a downer for me, but overall it's a great beer. I'm saving the other five to see how they age, right next to a case of '09 Bigfoot. Should be fun.

Anchor Brewing Company's Anchor Bock

Another quasi-macro brewery that is widely available without compromising their beers.

This one pours an almost completely opaque brown with reddish highlights and a good tan head for a lager.

Throws off a great sharp grassy smell as the head dies down, backed by a great bready malt that is substantial even for a bock.

Solid piney bitterness that lingers and fades to grassy, then to a solid malty grainy bitterness.

Great malt backbone with above average bitterness for a bock. Very good, best when colder.