Anchor Steam Beer

Man, hard to say. There are so many.

Defintions are fuzzy and I’m sure that @jesskidden can enlighten us, but I grew up in the Bay Area believing they were the oldest “craft” brewery on the west coast, if not America. My uncle actually tried to buy it from Fritz in the early 70’s.

A favorite of mine is Sotto Marie, a restaurant that’s been operating in little Italy for 100 years:

 

A few breweries around here brew Califronia Commons, usually pretty good examples too.

 

First of all true jealousy to TrojanRB's crab bite!

I like a post to Anchor Steam! It is not a top shelf brew but, absolutely I would choose it over a very large (increasingly large) muddle of big brewery crap that pervades most pubs. If I go to an open mic or smaller venue that is not known for craft beer and I see Anchor Steam it is a relief for me. No Budweiser! Or Mac & Jack, or Men's Room!

This beer style is in it's own niche, between the likes of Oktoberfests, Quadruples, and Scotch Ales. It is a long lost art aside from this IMO consistent example and Revel that is stays on - for my fallback. Without disappointment.

 

It's heavier than a lot of lagers and lighter than a lot of ales. It's malty and smooth. I could see the comparison to festbier. It is a great beer in my opinion. Nothing crazy, just a tasty pleasant beer for beer's sake.

 

I still find Anchor Steam (and SNPA and SABL) to be well balanced beers that have a pleasant hop flavor and aroma, and refreshing hop bitterness, aside from the caramel malt body, which has never struck me as overly sweet for either beer. To my tastes the hops are perfectly balanced in each beer, both the flavor and the bitterness. Then again I still look at beers from the perspective of macro beers (American AAL, Swedish Exports, German lagers, Czech Lagers, European adjunct lagers), and how they taste relative to those. In the time I have been drinking beer neither of those points of reference have changed enough for me to notice, and neither has Anchor Steam hence my unchanged, favorable opinion of it.

 

I wouldn't say "nothing." I get an intense amount of isoamyl acetate from it. I find it borderline unenjoyable. I'm not saying it has high levels of isoamyl acetate... it's just my perception, right or wrong.

The last time I had Steam was a few weeks ago on draught in San Francisco. I haven't noticed any short term changes in this beer in recent years. It never resembled an Oktoberfest or AAL for my tastes.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky to try a non-pasteurized & non-filtered version at the brewery, and I really enjoyed that beer.

Any beer in the intro to Jackson’s The Beer Hunter deserves some respect.

 

As a Steam drinker for many decades, and after visiting and touring the brewery twice in the past 7 months, always a great beer and unique.
I have not detected any major flavor shifts or changes since the change in ownership....I think many younger craft drinkers have lost the ability to enjoy a simple, well crafted beer without a lot of hype....or perhaps they never acquired that ability, due to all the over hopped over hyped beers that now seem to dominate much of the market.

Now if only the distributor in NE Ohio would carry other Anchor products - like Liberty Ale and Old Foghorn!

 

Yeah -- wish I could be more help, but I stopped at this place many moons ago -- on my first trip to San Francisco. Saw it featured on the Food Network some years later -- supposed to be famous for their sourdough as well as their sandwiches. IIRC it was on the way to Oakland, but still on the SF side of the bridge (maybe vice versa?).

 

Oh, how I guffawed watching MJ's uncomfortable time trying to drink Anchor (Steam or Liberty?) from the bottle!

 

Hmmmm.....maybe Tommy’s Joint on Geary? Great old time sandwich shop....a little divey....good beer list. I know it’s been on Diners Drive In’s and Dives

https://tommysjoynt.com/

 

I've always really liked Anchor Steam, but at $12.99 a six pack I won't buy it when Summit and Sierra Nevada 12 packs are the same price.

 

Man, Tommy's Joynt takes me back.

 

Never noticed that in the beer before. It’s very uncommon for mass produced lagers to have any sort of unwanted bacteria or off putting flavors. However, taste is certainly objective.

 

Looks like a cool joint, but the place I remember was more sandwich shop than tavern. It's hell to get old.

 

was going to add raw oysters or clam chowder as well. Anchor steam is a Great seafood beer!

 

Anchor Steam is an amazing beer! Light, but loads of flavor. And, I think, it is a bit different and unique for a lager and that stands for something.

 

I always liked Anchor Steam. Found it to be somewhat unique when fresh and pretty ordinary when not. It is what I get when I don’t know what I want (if I can find it less than 3 months ago. Had it on tap finally in San Diego in January and found it better on tap. As to the Octofest comparison I can see that as the hops fade. I wonder how old your stuff was?

 

Now that it's available in the 19.2 oz can format I drink it regularly, often as the last beer of the night instead of a porter or stout. It has lower ABV and is still flavorful with some malt and yeast goodness.

 

By chance, I went beer shopping yesterday and spotted 3 cases of Anchor Steam Beer sitting in the aisle, fresh off the truck - of course, the distributor and retailer both ignoring the "please refrigerate" request on the case. As is my custom whenever I see newly-arrived Anchor products at a store, I popped a flap on the case (didn't see a code on the cardboard) and pulled out a bottle and read "050119" - May Day! - just about the freshest Steam I've found in many years - 10 weeks from bottling. Damn. Pretty close to my normal 3 month cut-off. Ah, I debated...

Might have been this thread (in combination with the weather and having too much higher ABV stuff at home) that spurred me on the buy it. Pretty cheap well, reasonable, too, checking the receipt today (since it wasn't on the shelf yet) - $9.99. Had to wait to get it cooled off but found them as I remember it best, living in CA in the mid-70s.

Someone wrote "light" above and when I read it I scoffed 'cause Anchor Steam in the pre- and early craft era was often described as a "heavy...dark beer" that was "not for everyone..." but yeah, I'll buy that designation today - when so much craft is 6%-up - abv's that were nearly unheard in the US outside of some "malt liquors" of when Maytag took complete control of Anchor.

I can see, too, how some might find the caramel malt reminds them of some US "less than authentic" Oktoberfest-labeled beers...

Nearing 4 months I debated about being slightly over 2 months.

Anchor's FAQ still says:

So, if true, the fault would be with the storage conditions after arriving at the wholesaler and/or retailer.

For all the good Maytag did for US beer, he did have a few beliefs that are out of step today. He told the Wall Street Journal back in 2006 (“The Search for Fresh Beer”Jan. 28):