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In the United States is the week of craft beer, conceived to put into limelight craft beer, which, as you should know, is gaining a growing popularity in the States. And since every occasion is good to toast, yesterday I went to Off License – where among other things I had the pleasure to meet the brewer of the Scottish Harviestoun – to buy a couple of American beers. To celebrate this occasion, I then picked up Anchor Steam Beer, which is one of the most significant products of the American brewing culture.

Brewing in the United States, in fact, is traditionally inspired by European beers. Many overseas styles are in fact merely reinterpretation of Anglo-Saxon, Belgian, German or Czech beers. Is therefore impossible not to mention the different interpretations of IPAs, or reinterpretations of Stout and Porter or the new wave of Imperial Pilsner. You may almost think that the United States don’t have their own styles, and this would be true but for some exceptions. Steam Beer is certainly the best known exception.

In nineteenth-century was quite common, especially in California, a very peculiar beer, fermented with lager yeast but at higher fermentation temperatures. As you probably know, the bottom-fermenting yeast usually work at low temperatures (0-13 °), but in those days brewers had not yet effective means of refrigeration. This “odd” fermentation stemmed from a practical necessity and not from a definite reason, but nonetheless gave beer unique organoleptic features, to the point that was encoded a proper style: Steam Beer, precisely.

But what does “steam” in the name of this beer? There is no definite answer to the question, really. The interpretations are different, with the only certainty that all have something to do, more or less directly, with the brewing process. In particular, the Anchor itself (which owns the rights to the name “Steam Beer”) states that the wort was kept in large tanks positioned on the roofs of the breweries: a cloud of steam rose from them becoming the hallmark of the beers produced in the region.

Curiously, the success of Steam Beer coincided with the period of the American gold rush, when many began to make piles of money meeting the needs of those who was looking for the precious metal. And beer, as we know, is one of the most popular beverage since ancient times. So the typical beers brewed in California were intended primarily for workers: they were a drink often considered of poor quality. From this standpoint it is easy to parallel the style with Porter, a beer of low alloy once brewed in London for port workers. Like Porter, Steam Beer also fell into oblivion when the social and cultural conditions of the country changed.

As often happens in the history of beer, certain styles emerge from total extinction through the initiative of some enthusiastic or of some brewery. So in 1981 the Anchor decided to recover this Californian tradition brewing its Steam Beer and therefore obtaining the rights of the name. It was not a slavish imitation but their own interpretation in accordance with modern brewing techniques and taste. The Anchor Steam Beer cannot therefore be compared to those of late 1800, but shares some features with those brews. This American brewer have the merit of revived the old brewing customs of his country and not only those of the European nations. No doubt however that it was a bright commercial idea…

Because the name belongs to Anchor and to emphasize the differences with the Steam Beer from the past, the BJCP has codified the style of California Common to define the modern interpretations. It covers all the beers that are inspired by the old Steam Beer, including the Anchor’s.

The Steam Beer usually has a bright copper color, with a caramel and roasted aroma, which mingle in the mouth with a rather sharp fruity note, with a dry and hoppy end. Besides the Anchor’s, there are several examples of the style, mainly from the United States. In Italy there is only one example of California Common: the Birra del Borgo Stim Bir, brewed in collaboration with the American Grateful Deaf. Maybe we should also mention the Bad Attitude Bootlegger even if it is formally a Swiss brewery – though its beers will soon be available in Italy.

If you never had a Anchor Steam Beer, try it …finding in beer shops should not be too difficult. If you already drunk it, well, buy it again with the excuse of celebrating the week of American craft beer. Cheers!