Anchor Steam Beer

Finding fresh beer on a beer store's shelf is something to celebrate.

With my local beer retailers I have not done much celebrating.

Cheers!

 

Trader Joe's has generally been pretty good about dates and rotating stock in my experience, most likely because they have a pretty limited selection at any time. If they had more refrigerated selection I would buy beer there even more often.

 

More and more I am starting to think that perhaps maybe this is the 'answer' to the problem of too much old beer on beer retailers shelves. Having a lot of beers on my local beer retailers' shelves but with the majority of those beers being too old is a 'false choice' in my judgement.

Cheers!

 

We all just need to recruit more craft beer drinkers to solve that problem.

 

So what should we do if the "more" craft beer drinkers prefer to purchase their beers from their numerous small, local breweries since they consistently provide fresh beer? How does this solve the issue of so much old beer at beer stores?

If you have a real answer here I would be very much interested in hearing it.

Cheers!

 

With my comment I'm comparing myself to many craft beer drinkers (right or wrong, I don't know), and I visit a lot of breweries as well as buy a lot of beer at the store. I think probably relatively few beer lovers will drink at or buy beer to-go from their local brewery almost exclisively.

 

And I too do not buy beers from small. local breweries "exclusively" but I would hate to relate to you the number of times I have visited my local beer retailers with the intention of buying beer brand x (or y or z as backups) and left those stores empty handed since all of those choices were on the shelf but too old. Do you have better luck here? Or maybe you are more tolerant about beer age?

Cheers!

 

I typically buy stuff from just a few Michigan breweries that I know was just received. However, I have to be VERY tolerant when grabbing German imports, of which my store doesn't carry many. I've gotten to the point of grabbing seasonals when they first show up, and totally ignoring the mainstay German beers.

 

It sure is nice to have a bottling date that does not require an encryption key.

 

I just posted my thoughts about German beers in this other thread:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...avorite-german-breweries.619087/#post-6566014

Maybe you have some thoughts to share there?

Cheers!

 

I saw this thread last night and began looking at my notes from my 2017 trip to Germany. I'll add a post shortly.

 

Anchor Steam is one of the few beer's i've seen on the shelves over the past 10 or so years...and still haven't tried. I think it's about time. I've been wanting to brew a california common and this will need to be had!

 

Visited brewery a couple of years ago. Anchor steam is a still a great session beer. Current Liberty ale seems a little cloying compared to years past. Their porter is (in my opinion) one of the best out there, but is better in the bottle than on tap. Maybe a little age helps on this one...Reminds me of Sam Smith’s porter with that licorice note.

 

Anchor Steam Beer pairs so well with seafood, I discovered one day with a Whole Fried Red Snapper Vera Cruz. Then with oysters on the half shell. Then they quit keeping the Anchor Steam Beer in the walk up cooler. I told them. Still no Anchor Steam Beer. SAD!

 

Saw some cases at the beer store this week I was very tempted to purchase one but the lack of a date on the case prevented that urge.

 

Weird they've all been dated around here lately, unfortunately many of those dates haven't changed since December of last year. Was a go to last summer, haven't been tempted this year to go for the 6 or 7 month old iteration

 

I pulled the case off the shelf, looked at the top, examined each side and even flipped it upside down didn't see a date.

 

Recent bottles are cleared bottle dated. You would think that the cases containing said bottles would be dated too but I've never looked.

 

My tastes have changed quite a bit since I got into all of this nearly 20 years ago. The classics - like Brooklyn Lager, Sam Adams Boston Lager, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - have all held up well over the years and for me, this has also done so. Sure, it's technically a lager but it pours, looks, feels, and tastes like a Lager and I can see how this would remind you of an Octoberfest as it's dark and flavorful but finishes clean and crisp at the same time. Your tastes, and this beer, may have changed over the years but if you enjoyed it then and feel the same way now, then you've stumbled upon a quality beer that will endure throughout the ages.

Like a Marzen or Octoberfest, this will have dark malt, hints of caramel, and leave a crisp impression on your palate. Just enjoy it and realize that when all of the seasonal offerings hit your local store shelves in a few weeks, you have something better and more enduring to reach for to handle the transition from summer to fall. I find it a blessing that only a few brewers attempt a California Common and that this will always fill a seasonal and stylistic void for me!