78 Steam
Hopworks Brewery

I suspected, of course, that this was a steam beer. But since "steam" is a protected copyright of the Anchor Brewing Co., I wanted to make sure. So I asked my server to tell me about HUB's 78 Steam beer.

Now, I've asked many servers many things over the years and I've learned that most of them know very little about the precious cargo they deliver to my table. I know I shouldn't generalize, but when I see a woman who looks like she's only been of the legal age to purchase beer for perhaps three years, she may be charming and attentive to servicing the customers, but it's rare - very rare - that she has any appreciable knowledge of beer and beercraft. Worse than that is that they often still feel obliged to answer your queries with a fount of misguided babble - as though protocols required them to provide some verbal response, no matter how misguided.

So I was surprised - and fairly impressed - when my server informed me that 78 Steam was brewed with lager yeasts at warmer ale temperatures. Whoa! I was impressed not only with her concise and accurate answer, but also with whoever among the Hopwork's management team thought to hire and/or train her.

The HUB however, still gets dinged for copyright infringement.

As for 78 Steam, it's a good beer on a menu that features numerous better choices. Like most HUB beers, it is polished to refined clarity, this one in ruddy copper (an easy comparison, as the tabletops at Hopworks are all copper plated.) It is clean with a slight wash of caramel and appropriate balancing but not overly charismatic. Elements of toasted bread or a crisp finish play only modestly at best. And carbonation was uncharacteristically low.

Not a defining beer as a steam or California common, but as a simple pale it serves nicely.