Hosted a 12 year vertical of Anchor’s Our Special Ale this past weekend. It’s one of the few beers that I look forward to buying every year.

The vertical turned out pretty good. It’s interesting to see how the beer ages and changes over the years. Even though the recipe changes every year there are some consitant themes through out the year. Ginger and spruce make frequent appearances.

This is one beer that definitely ages well. The spices seem to blend and the beer becomes fuller over time.

In my opinion, the best vintages were the 00, 97, 95, 93 and 94.

It’s also interesting to note that only the 1991 seemed like it was off.