Throughout 2010 and 2011 I contributed to BillyBrew’s Beer Bucket List 50 Beers to Try Before You Die project.  Anchor Steam was one of the beers I wrote about. This post was originally published on Monday, 25th, July, 2011.

Anchor Steam Beer is the flagship brew of San Francisco’s illustrious Anchor brewing company. 

Anchor brewing was saved from a certain death, resurrected and reborn thanks to the ingenuity and passion of a man called Fritz Maytag. Fritz purchased the brewery in 1965 and over the next decade found himself at the embryonic leading edge of what would eventually become known as the American craft beer movement. 

Anchor Steam is brewed in the tradition of the historical northern Californian style known as California common or steam beer. Steam beer, is actually now a trademarked name owned by Anchor brewing. In the simplest terms, steam beer was a working class session beer brewed with lager yeast at ale temperatures. It was a style of beer brewed more out of necessity rather than to achieve an acute or specific flavor set. As for the colorful name, the prevalent story goes that in the absence refrigeration breweries would pump warm wort to open top steal containers atop their breweries, where the cooling nocturnal Pacific breeze would cool the liquid before the yeast was pitched. Steam was the natural and visible byproduct.  If nothing else, it’s a romantic image.

Aromatically Anchor Steam effervesces the sweet tang of wildflower honey, honeysuckle, English golden syrup, white grape juice and a heavily malted vanilla shake.

In the drink, the initial sip is marked by a brown sugar sweetness, a bitter black tea middle and a strong hop derived yellow grapefruit finish. The rich flavor of kilned toasted malts is very apparent, and continues to run intricately through the beer like rich veins of gold.

Anchor Steam Beer is of unquestionable historical importance and becoming familiar with the beer, is in my opinion, an essential part of building an adept and knowing beer palate. It’s a unique beer in terms of flavor and aroma.

Pairing Anchor Steam Beer is not a science. It’s an experience. Think of the beers blue collar roots and the vast array of foods the beer might easily have been consumed with in San Francisco of a hundred years ago. Think pork and beef; fried, roasted, baked or grilled. Potato heavy sides. Hearty vegetable dished. Tacos, burritos, enchiladas and dirty rice dishes. Chinese dishes made with pork, beef, duck and seafood. On the dinner table, this is one of the most adaptable and comfortable beers brewed in America.