Christmas beer.

Christmas cheer in a bottle, that's what I call the Anchor Brewing Company's Special Ale.  I am always a little worried that I will miss the release of this beer, however this year I needn't have been concerned.  Getting our wires crossed, Vinomaker and I both bought some Anchor Christmas ale (their 44th annual bottling).  I bought a six pack and Vinomaker bought one bottle.  But what a bottle it is.
Adorned with a Korean Pine (Pinus koraiensis) this year, the one, big bottle is massive, 50.7 fluid ounces.  Yes, folks, that is just about 1.5 litres of beer.  The bottle is heavy.  H-e-a-v-y!  It's huge.  We may have to throw a party to get rid of it.  At the very least, I see a pizza night in my future.

Anchor Christmas Ale: 2015.

Yay!  It's that time of year when Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale is available in the shops.  This is the 41st time that Anchor has released their Christmas Ale, a tradition the company began in 1975.  And drinking it is a tradition I started for myself some years later.  I really look forward to the release of this ale, to me it means Christmas is coming.  The recipe is different each year and it is always kept a secret. This year, Anchor decided to add less spices, a throwback to earlier iterations when the ales malty-ness was more prominent.  And yes, the ale is quite malty this year, very fruity and very smooth.
The tree depicted on the 2015 label is a Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara), better known as the California Christmas Tree.  Evidently, this cedar "has been a San Francisco favourite for over 150 years."  Did not know that, but now I do.
Cheers!

Happy anniversary ale!

 

This year is the 40th time that Anchor Brewing Company have produced their wonderful, limited edition Christmas Ale.  The recipe might change every year, but it never fails to disappoint.  This year the label is adorned with a charming ink drawing of a Sequoiadendron giganteum - the Giant Sequoia - which is a wonderful choice of tree this year.
Giant sequoias are the world's largest tree and can grow to upwards of 275 feet.  That's a lot of firewood!  To be able to visit a grove of these majestic trees, and stand in the cathedral-like space beneath their lofty bows, is just one of the great things about California.  Big tree.  Big anniversary.  Nice beer.  Well done Anchor Brewing Company, and happy Christmas.  I'm looking forward to your 41st edition.

A tree treat.

Here it is, the 2013 iteration of Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale.  I look forward to this beer appearing in the shops this time of year.  It has become a fast tradition (especially for me and Thud, when he's visiting at Yuletide) that the mere act of purchasing this beer gets one into the Christmas-swing of things. 
The label, adorned with a different tree each year, this year the California White Fir (Abies concolor var. Lowiana), is olde worlde and festive.  The neck label reads thus: "This is the thirty-ninth "Our Special Ale" from the brewers at Anchor.  It is sold only 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 we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life.  Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew."  Yikes, I feel all teary-eyed. 
Hoppy-citrusy-yumminess, I must buy more of this ale so that I have some to drink on the winter solstice.  "Ring out, ring solstice bells."  I feel some Jethro Tull coming on!

A treat for St. Nick.

No milk for Father Christmas this year.  Tonight when I go to bed, I will be leaving out a bottle of Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale and a plate of freshly baked mince pies for the jolly old elf.  The 2012 edition of Anchor's Christmas Ale, with it's Araucaria heterophylla adorned label, was really quite hard to find this year, but I still don't mind sparing one bottle for my favourite, red-suited visitor.
Now, I just have to figure out how to keep V2 away from the mince pies.

On the fourth day of Christmas...

...I got a little bit fed up with wine and decided to have a Christmas beer instead.
Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale is something I look forward to each year - if I can find it.  This Christmas Ale is a limited production and is only available during a specific period: early November through mid January.  But honestly, I have never seen it in the shops for that amount of time.  I buy it as soon as I see it because it sells out fast.
With a different, tree-adorned label every year this ale is medium bodied, quite dark, pleasantly spicy and altogether delightful. Throughout the year I often imbibe in an Anchor Steam Beer, or sometimes a bottle or two of their Porter, but it's the release of this San Franciscan brewery's Christmas offering that I eagerly await every autumn.
My purple, polka-dotted glass just adds to the festivities.