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...

Pros: It is a unique lager full of flavor and charater.
Cons: It is also a tad bit expensive.

Anchor Steam Beer is the only beer style indiginous to the U.S. It is an original that is as much San Francisco as the Golden Gate Bridge. Being from San Francisco it makes me proud to see a fine beer , so good , produced in my hometown. It is ale like...

Pros: reminds me of home
Cons: not ubiquitous

The Anchor Brewing Company is credited with single-handedly reigniting American craft brewing with the production of Anchor Steam. Samuel Adams, Pyramid, Red Hook, Pete's Wicked--they all owe a debt to the vision of Fritz Maytag, who acquired the company...

Pros: taste, versatility
Cons: priced higher than Bud'

Anchor steam beer is the work horse of the Anchor line. It does what a good beer is built to do (whatever you want it to) like magic it will make bad food palatable, good food better and great food a joy. Maybe it is because the temperature is colder,...

Pros: Big full flavor
Cons: Flavor declines as beer warms

If I closed my eyes I would swear I was sitting down at the corner micro brew. What more can be said about this top quality drink. It is one of the best kept secrets in California and it is one of my favorites.

I have tried Anchor Steam in...

Pros: Pleasant brew, to be savored
Cons: Not widely available in Canada, Slightly more expensive than your everyday brew,

I recently visited a friend in Minneapolis, and he had a case of Anchor Steam in the fridge. Within 2 sips I could see why he enjoyed this beer so much.

Anchor Steam, brewed by the Anchor Brewing Co. of San Francisco, CA.

Color:...

Pros: good hardy flavor
Cons: cost too much

I love this beer first because its beer, then because of a very good flavor and mixed with just the right amount of body makes this beer go down smooth.

Has a taste that is in between a ale and a lager. Malt is a very prominent feature of...

Pros: It's beer.
Cons: You suck if you drink it.

This beer sucks. You suck if you drink it. It sucks bad. If you drink it you suck too. Did you drink some? Then you suck. Try it some more. Just so your sure. Now you suck even worse. ...

Pros: good tasting
Cons: none

I would recommend Anchor Steam Beer which is brewed somewhere out of
San Francisco. Beer from the city is good quality and tastes awesome.
I can say that this is similar to a blonde tasting beer. It is a beer
worth buying, I recommend...

Pros: great tasting
Cons: a little expensive

Ahh yes...Anchor Steam. Once available only on the "gold coast", now you can find this beer fairly easily. Truly, when I use to wait tables at a four-star restaurant (in Norfolk, VA), we proudly boasted that we were the only place in the city...

Pros: good flavor and aroma
Cons: it's still beer, not good for you

I'm not a heavy beer drinker, but I do have my preferences if it's time to have some cold ones. Anchor Steam is one of them. It's produced by Anchor Brewing Co., and this is the only one of their beers i've had. I should try some others, based on Anchor...

Pros: Flavorful, Smooth
Cons: No twist offs! Must use opener!!!

This fine beer is much more than just a good lager. With all the taste and refinement of more expensive beers, Anchor Steam is unchallenged in it's class. A smooth medium bodied beer, with a rich, deep auburn coloration, and a cute label to boot! A truly...

Pros: good balance of bite, good old and local brewery
Cons: nothing against anchor!

It's my standard beer -- I automatically ask for it when I go up to the bar.

Great beer for a number of reasons.

-- one, it's fairly bold stuff, with good even flavors but still challenges your tongue a bit -- just the right...

Pros: great taste, sold in singles
Cons: hard to find in the east

I was fortunate enough to have an Anchor Steam Beer while i was in the western part of our country. I am a beer lover and i try many different kinds of beers from all over and i tried this beer while i was in the Grand Canyon in Arizonia. I was ...

Pros: great taste, not heavy or bitter, very smooth
Cons: none

This is a great beer. I had the opportunity to try this beer at a bar in Hoboken N.J. and I was extremely impressed. If you like a darker beer then you will love this one! It taste vey similar to Bass ale. It is not bitter, and it doesn't leave you with...

Pros: Wonderful flavor
Cons: Difficult to locate in Ohio

I am originally from San Francisco and now reside in Ohio. One of the best things about San Francisco that I miss is Anchor Steam beer. When I am able to locate it here I sip it and think of San Francisco.

The first time I had this beer I...

Pros: Awesome beer--must try
Cons: can't think of any

Steam beer is both an ale and a lager because it uses both top and bottom fermenting yeasts. This quality really comes out when tasted. It is carbonated and you can see bubbles but it is very malty and smooth lacking a lot of the bitterness associated...

Pros: Well-balanced, complex; I'd call this a wine drinker's beer.
Cons: Best had from the draft.

Much has been said in other reviews about Anchor Steam's unique method of production; it's essentially a lager brewed at temperatures more commonly associated with ales.

I don't know enough about beer making to say what effect this has on the taste and texture, but I can say a bit about them nonetheless. Anchor Steam has a very full but not sticky mouth-feel, with caramel and toffee malt dominating the flavor and a hoppiness that sneaks up on you at just the right moment, leaving a clean aftertaste. It's somehow rich and complex yet refreshing and neither heavy like a porter nor bitter like a pale ale, making it a beer for all seasons.

Anchor Steam is best had fresh, from the draft if you're fortunate enough to find it on tap; the malty notes fade as it sits, even when kept cool and dark.

Pros: great bottle, great complex taste, nice old-world americana look, full-bodied without being too heavy.
Cons: makes me want to drink too much

anchor steam is a great american tradition which thanks to gadzillionaire fritz maytag has been preserved for all of us to enjoy. anchor steam is certainly one of the top 5 american beers and the reason for the surge of microbrews in the past 10 years. it is incredible that anchor steam has been able to gain the popularity it has without "dumbing down" its product.