{"id":3736,"date":"2012-12-20T22:34:07","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T04:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tombedell.com\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2019-12-19T20:34:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T02:34:43","slug":"twelve-beers-of-christmas-1-anchor-our-special-ale-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/3736\/twelve-beers-of-christmas-1-anchor-our-special-ale-2012","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Beers of Christmas 1: Anchor Our Special Ale 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-christmas-2012.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3739 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-christmas-2012.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"380\" \/><\/a>Plenty of other beer writers are trotting out picks to constitute two \u201cTwelve Beers of Christmas\u201d six-packs, so I decided to have some fun with it, too. I\u2019ll see if I can name one a day right up to New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>I have a bit of a head start, since over on the [defunct] Back9Network.com I\u2019ve been doing beer-of-the-week picks under the &#8220;Mug Shots\u201d heading. There I\u2019ve already touted Harpoon\u2019s Grateful Harvest Ale, Sierra Nevada\u2019s Celebration Ale, Shmaltz Brewing\u2019s Jewbelation Sweet 16, and Boulevard\u2019s Nutcracker Ale.<\/p>\n<p>But the mother of them all, of course, at least in the United States, is Anchor Brewing\u2019s Our Special Ale. I gave ample history about the San Francisco\u2019s brewery\u2019s Yuletide practices in a post about the <a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/golf\/lifestyle\/2158\/tap-beer-of-the-week-our-special-ale-anchor-brewing\/\" target=\"_blank\">2011 Our Special Ale<\/a>, so no need to repeat all that here.<\/p>\n<p>All we really need to know is 1) how the 38th rendition tastes and 2) what tree is on the label?<\/p>\n<p>As for the latter, it\u2019s a Norfolk Island Pine, <em>Araucaria heterophylla<\/em>, and this year\u2019s video from Anchor is a nice little portrait of the artist behind all of the annual labels, Jim Stitt:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Drawing on History: Anchor Brewing Label Artist Jim Stitt\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0YaS2Odm2vg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Anchor Christmas Beer, as it is sometimes inaccurately called to no one\u2019s dismay, usually shows up just prior to Thanksgiving and hangs out until mid-January. It was a little late arriving in these parts this year, which gave me the willies when I heard a rumor that this might be the last year it was to be brewed.<\/p>\n<p>But then I also heard a rumor it was the last year it would be brewed as a dark spiced ale, which is more credible and would negate the first rumor.<\/p>\n<p>Rest easy. &#8220;The rumor is not true at all,&#8221; said Candice Uyloan, with Anchor&#8217;s public relations firm. &#8220;At this time, we couldn&#8217;t tell you what the 2013 Christmas Ale will be like, but we have no reason to believe that it won&#8217;t be a rich, dark spiced ale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For many years now the beer has been like a trip into the mahogany forest, a dense brown ale with a spruce-like character, with hints of clove and nutmeg. A gingerbread house of a beer, perhaps, but never cloying.<\/p>\n<p>The brewers keep the ingredients to themselves, and no doubt have a good laugh when they hear or read about some of the ingredients folks think are in there. I\u2019ll wade willingly into this trap right now.<\/p>\n<p>The spruce character seems dialed back another notch this year, but there\u2019s a compensating fruity tartness that suggests cranberries to me. Adding to the impression is a more reddish tinge to the beer\u2019s color, which would certainly be in keeping with the season.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, it\u2019s a treat once again, and a case seems about the right proportion for purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Name: Our Special Ale 2012<br \/>\nBrewer: Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, California<br \/>\nStyle: Spice\/Herb\/Specialty Beer<br \/>\nABV: 5.5%<br \/>\nAvailability: Nov-Feb, nationwide<br \/>\nFor More Information: www.anchorbrewing.com<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-Christmas-2012-label.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3740\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-Christmas-2012-label.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"690\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-Christmas-2012-label.jpg 690w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-Christmas-2012-label-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-Christmas-2012-label-175x130.jpg 175w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/golf\/lifestyle\/3750\/twelve-beers-of-christmas-2-nogne-o-winter-ale\/\" target=\"_blank\">Twelve Beers of Christmas 2: Nogne \u00d8 Winter Ale<\/a>&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plenty of other beer writers are trotting out picks to constitute two \u201cTwelve Beers of Christmas\u201d six-packs, so I decided&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/3736\/twelve-beers-of-christmas-1-anchor-our-special-ale-2012\" title=\"ReadTwelve Beers of Christmas 1: Anchor Our Special Ale 2012\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":3739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,18],"tags":[283495,676072,676073,632,634,749,819,3759,174724,676069,676070],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-on-tap","category-lifestyle","tag-back9network","tag-mug-shots","tag-our","tag-anchor","tag-san-francisco","tag-christmas","tag-winter-seasonal","tag-spiced-ale","tag-holiday-beer","tag-christmas-beers","tag-label-art"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/12\/Anchor-christmas-2012.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8223,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/8223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}