Anchor Steam Beer

Pros: Good complexity; Well- balanced; Easy to find in stores
Cons: High price

California’s Anchor Brewing Company is one of America’s best craft brewing operations. Owned by appliance magnate Fritz Maytag, this company brews many fine malt beverages and it has a distribution base that reaches every state in the union and many ...

Pros: Wonderfully malty brew with a firm hop bite
Cons: Needs to be consumed fresh

In a previous opinion on Samuel Adams Boston Lager, I wrote about beer entrepreneur and pioneer Jim Koch and the ways in which he expanded awareness of craft beer in the United States. While it's true Koch fanned the flames of beer enthusiasm here, the ...

Pros: Nice character, complexity, originality
Cons: Expensive

Anchor Steam is one of the great success stories of American brewing, a microbrewery that came before the boom and brewer of what is considered to be the only beer style indigenous to the USA. This brewery is of such fame that at least some part of every...

Pros: Interesting and full of flavour
Cons: None

The Anchor brewery, founded in 1896, used a unique American brewing method which was first perfected during the Californian Gold Rush days when refrigeration was not available. This method involved using bottom-fermenting lager yeasts in very shallow...

Pros: Complex earthy flavor, unique
Cons: ...are those guys that swindle you out of money.

We are creatures of habit. We enjoy doing things the same; it's safe and comforting. Yet, once in a while we must break away and mix things up. Some of us do so more than others. I, for instance, like many of my colleagues that enjoy contributing to ...

Pros: Made in USA but not a "macro-brew". Nearly as good as my usual import choices.
Cons: Costs nearly as much as a good import beer.

I decided to have a beer or three in the fridge for emergency purposes recently but was totally clueless as to where a good package store was to be found since I'm new in town. Rather than spend a fortune in that liquid gold called petrol, driving ...

Pros: The grand daddy of the craft beer scene
Cons: hard to think of any

The Boston Beer Company, brewers of Samuel Adams beers, generally gets credit for spearheading the craft brew movement in America. While they were certainly at the forefront of advancing the good word, there is another brewery that predates Sam Adams...

Pros: Balanced traditional california beer with a sharp hops edge
Cons: Eventually the bottle is empty...

They don't make 'em like they used to. How many times have you heard that cliche? Thankfully, it's not always true. Anchor Steam Beer proves that you can make a beer the way it used to be done, and you can create a modern classic, develop a loyal...

Pros: Rich flavor and nice creamy texture
Cons: Slightly narrow taste

Anchor Steam has a dear place in my memories. I was first exposed to this unique beer when visiting San Francisco in the late 1980's
and spent a lot of my time downtown visiting clubs and generally having a good time. I was really pleased to see...

Pros: An all-around complex flavorful brew.
Cons: I didn't brew it myself

A short history of my experience with Anchor Steam: I need to start this review by saying that I live in Alabama - NOT a haven for craft beer drinkers and certainly not a place to find much other than what Budweiser Miller and ...

Pros: sweet, slightly creamy taste with caramel notes; some crispness; mostly smooth
Cons: a distinct dryness to the palate; perhaps a bit too mild

If you’ve been following my beer reviews for a while you know I’ve attempted to coin phrases and adages when it comes to beer-critiquing. Another one I’d like to start is, “Just because it’s a novelty or unique beer or has a ...

Pros: Innocent until proven guilty
Cons: This won't last long in the days of Bush II

The June weather pattern along the coast of SoCal is very interesting, and it tends to confuse outlanders to no end. Every morning it is overcast due to a marine inversion layer, which is a neat way of saying "sort-of-foggy." But by 1 or 2pm, the...

Pros: taste
Cons: none

WOW !, What an interesting taste ! This was my reaction when I first tried Anchor Steam Beer back in the early eighties. I was at one of those brew pubs that only served bottled beer, about 450 different types of bottled beer that is. This place had...

Pros: clean, complex flavor
Cons: six-packs often pricey

Anchor Steam's unique brewing process makes for a hoppy but drinkable ale that doesn't taste quite like anything else. This is an excellent beer for a summer evening, but it's flavorful enough for any time of the year. What's more, it's becoming really...

Pros: Great brew!
Cons: A little pricey.

After struggling for years to obtain any of the fine beers rolling off the line at Anchor, I finally moved to the West Coast where Anchor Steam can be had ON TAP. Anchor Steam is far and away one of the finest beers brewed this side of the pond, and yet...