Anchor Holiday 2008

It's a great time of year. Holiday season is the best for those dark, warming beers I love so much. Although not quite as dark and rich as am I biased to, Anchor Holiday has and always be one of my favorites of the season.
Having had this beer many times its exciting to think about how this year's version will taste and how it will compare to the inevitable tasting of the 06, 07 and 08 side by side. Unfortunately those are the only other years in the cellar right now. Let's get to the review.
Pours with just great viscosity developing into that signature thick Anchor head. Smell seems more tame this year, not as much cherries but with usual hints of nutmeg and dark berries.
The taste is good, what you'd expect -- but you can tell that it will benefit from some aging. Plenty of dark fruit on the palette with alittle more chocolate than usual. Carbonation seems alittle over active right now -- preventing the beer from coating my tongue. This no doubt will improve with age as well. Overall Anchor Holiday is a great beer, one for festive occasions and good winter nights. But it will improve greatly with age, and my main reason behind the purchase was to age the beer. My previous memories of the 06 were that it was an incredibly complex and delicious beer, with the spices more subdued, allowing the true malt flavors to develop. I've had the '98 as well a couple of months ago and that was not nearly as enjoyable as the 06. Perhaps because it had developed a cloying sourness that some are a fan of but I am most certainly not. It was still complex and good, but with a muted "here it comes" sensation in the mouth. Anchor Holiday is a great beer and symbolic entry into my favorite beer season of the year.