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A shame they weren’t able to adapt to modern beer tastes. As long as I can remember, I've thought of them as the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink only if a

A shame they weren’t able to adapt to modern beer tastes. As long as I can remember, I've thought of them as the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink only if all other options are exhausted.

the_common_man 3y ago
I thought anchor steam is pretty good. What beer do you like?
- WiseWeasel 3y ago
  I guess Sierra Nevada was a big influence early on, and since then I’ve come to appreciate a large variety, from more hoppy offerings from the likes of Russian River, Lagunitas, Stone and recently Almanac, to lagers from Pacifico and Dos Equis, several prominent Belgian brands, and some local sours. I enjoy a wide variety, but always thought of Anchor Steam as bland, malty, and mediocre, on the same low level as Fat Tire, to name a comparable brand. That said, I’ve only had it bottled, never on tap.
  - ginko 3y ago
    >always thought of Anchor Steam as bland, malty, and mediocre, on the same low level as Fat Tire, to name a comparable brand. So was it bland or malty? Those seem mutually exclusive to me. I'm generally a fan of steam beers/california commons because of the very dark malt forward flavor. It was one of my favorite beer styles to brew and drink. Do you like Munich dunkels?
    - WiseWeasel 3y ago
      Bland in a flavor complexity sense, and malty as in too sweet. I guess a better way to say it is too sweet for its sourness/bitterness.
  - grouchomarx 3y ago
    >the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink >I guess Sierra Nevada
chubot 3y ago
Anchor steam on tap is very good IMO In the bottle it seems to lose everything for some reason I never buy it in the bottle, but I get it on tap But I’ll admit there are a zillion options that are similar or better now. The market changed a lot
- chubot 3y ago
  The obvious follow up is I think they must not have kept up with the times I’d guess bottles are the majority of the business and I think that product is inferior I don’t know what the other breweries do, maybe it’s just freshness and inventory, or a better or more consistent bottling — I should also add that I lived in SF, so it’s definitely possible that most customers out of city think of them as a bad bottled beer brand, whereas I had a different impression
  - kshahkshah 3y ago
    Other breweries do cans. Easier. Cheaper. Tastes better. Keeps the art fresh.
    - Arainach 3y ago
      >Other breweries do cans. Easier. Cheaper. Tastes better. Keeps the art fresh. Canning has significant upfront costs that mean that for small operations it's not easier or cheaper. At the scale of Anchor, it's viable, but does require a significant investment in retooling.
AnotherGoodName 3y ago
Part of the problem is that the steam beer process they used is a cheap and nasty process by design and they were one of the last holdouts of that style. I did a tour of their brewery where they do the open air fermenting (hence the name, steam came off it). It's a way to save refrigeration costs in brewing and makes for a poor beer. If they adapted to modern tastes they wouldn't really be steam beer anymore. They'd be another beer brewed the same way as the others. At which point you're calling non steam beer steam beer.
- local_crmdgeon 3y ago
  >Last holdouts They were only a "holdout" insofar as they sued anyone else who used that process. They were kind of a shitty corporate citizen and I'm not sad to see them go.
  - astura 3y ago
    No they didn't, they own the trademark term "steam beer" and only went after the people using the trademark, not people using the same process using the generic term "California Common."

A shame they weren’t able to adapt to modern beer tastes. As long as I can remember, I've thought of them as the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink only if all other options are exhausted.

the_common_man 3y ago

I thought anchor steam is pretty good. What beer do you like?

WiseWeasel 3y ago
I guess Sierra Nevada was a big influence early on, and since then I’ve come to appreciate a large variety, from more hoppy offerings from the likes of Russian River, Lagunitas, Stone and recently Almanac, to lagers from Pacifico and Dos Equis, several prominent Belgian brands, and some local sours. I enjoy a wide variety, but always thought of Anchor Steam as bland, malty, and mediocre, on the same low level as Fat Tire, to name a comparable brand. That said, I’ve only had it bottled, never on tap.
- ginko 3y ago
  >always thought of Anchor Steam as bland, malty, and mediocre, on the same low level as Fat Tire, to name a comparable brand. So was it bland or malty? Those seem mutually exclusive to me. I'm generally a fan of steam beers/california commons because of the very dark malt forward flavor. It was one of my favorite beer styles to brew and drink. Do you like Munich dunkels?
  - WiseWeasel 3y ago
    Bland in a flavor complexity sense, and malty as in too sweet. I guess a better way to say it is too sweet for its sourness/bitterness.
- grouchomarx 3y ago
  >the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink >I guess Sierra Nevada

chubot 3y ago

Anchor steam on tap is very good IMO In the bottle it seems to lose everything for some reason I never buy it in the bottle, but I get it on tap But I’ll admit there are a zillion options that are similar or better now. The market changed a lot

chubot 3y ago
The obvious follow up is I think they must not have kept up with the times I’d guess bottles are the majority of the business and I think that product is inferior I don’t know what the other breweries do, maybe it’s just freshness and inventory, or a better or more consistent bottling — I should also add that I lived in SF, so it’s definitely possible that most customers out of city think of them as a bad bottled beer brand, whereas I had a different impression
- kshahkshah 3y ago
  Other breweries do cans. Easier. Cheaper. Tastes better. Keeps the art fresh.
  - Arainach 3y ago
    >Other breweries do cans. Easier. Cheaper. Tastes better. Keeps the art fresh. Canning has significant upfront costs that mean that for small operations it's not easier or cheaper. At the scale of Anchor, it's viable, but does require a significant investment in retooling.

AnotherGoodName 3y ago

Part of the problem is that the steam beer process they used is a cheap and nasty process by design and they were one of the last holdouts of that style. I did a tour of their brewery where they do the open air fermenting (hence the name, steam came off it). It's a way to save refrigeration costs in brewing and makes for a poor beer. If they adapted to modern tastes they wouldn't really be steam beer anymore. They'd be another beer brewed the same way as the others. At which point you're calling non steam beer steam beer.

local_crmdgeon 3y ago
>Last holdouts They were only a "holdout" insofar as they sued anyone else who used that process. They were kind of a shitty corporate citizen and I'm not sad to see them go.
- astura 3y ago
  No they didn't, they own the trademark term "steam beer" and only went after the people using the trademark, not people using the same process using the generic term "California Common."