San Francisco Stars #14 Barrel Aged Old Foghorn

Date:  July 12, 2019  —

The Story—  We end this sojourn to San Francisco with one more day at the city’s iconic Anchor Brewery. Fritz Maytag changed Anchor from a struggling vestigial 19th century leftover making beer as inconsistently as 19th century breweries brewed them, to an internationally recognized superstar of craft brewing.  He was also recognized as one of the best employers on the planet.  But we all get old and wear out, and Maytag sold the company lock stock and barrel to a group of investors who largely continued Maytag’s work with only some changes.  Their long-time master brewer, Mark Carpenter continued to ensure quality of the beers.  More recently Sapporo Breweries acquired all the brewing operations. Saporro did not buy the distillery that Maytag had created as a sister operation to Anchor, and that’s going to make a difference in our Beer of the Day in the future.

Sapporo has had a foothold in North America– it brews Sapporo at the City Brewery in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and purchased the Canadian Sleeman brewing company.   Anchor seems a big step forward for them, though, and what happens under their ownership is a developing story.

The Old Foghorn is the classic original American Barley Wine – -based on English tradition, but with a distinct American touch.  Anchor uses a “first runnings” approach in which they cut off water from the mash much sooner than usual.  Think of the difference in taste between the 12 oz. Keurig run and the 6 oz. Keurig run.  It takes them three kettles of grain to make one kettle of beer.  In the past they’ve made a “small beer” from the only slightly used grains.  We thought it was great, but apparently the extraction process is something of a pain.  For example, when we used a similar process at Lost Rhino to produce our Mother Tupper’s Back of the Cupboard Imperial Rye Pale Ale, Lost Rhino skipped the opportunity for a small beer stage and sent the still sugary grain out to some very happy cows.

For now, the Anchor barrel aged Old Foghorn matures in the Portrero casks that Anchor was able to get strikingly wet — enough so that the published abvs show the barrel aged version significantly stronger.   The official abv varies between 8% and 10%, but this barrel aged version clocked in at 12.6%.   We’ve never seen that great a discrepancy.  We’re not sure we haven’t <tasted> a discrepancy that big, but no other brewery we’ve seen has admitted that sort of difference.

The Beer–   The aroma is simply stunning, an other worldly cascade of barrel and dark malts.  One can assume the flavor couldn’t keep pace, but in this case it does pretty well, with deep fruit– dates, prune, raisins, orange peel, vanilla and a good dose of bakers chocolate, and wood with, somehow, the dark malt finding some room around the edges.   Ellie’s reaction:  Plum pudding with hard sauce.  Happy Christmas!

Value —  Excellent.  Eight bucks for a 12 ounce serving would normally leave us short of feeling we’d gotten a “steal”, but this is the equivalent of a truly excellent wine aged to near perfection.  My wino friends are dropping a C note to get this sort of experience.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #13 Anchor Unfiltered Liberty Ale, San Francisco

Date:  July 11, 2019  —

The Story—  When Anchor first brewed Liberty Ale it did not label it as an IPA. The American IPA style kind of developed around and along side of it and eventually Anchor decided it would be better to join the tide than try to stand apart from it.   The brewery (now owned by Sapporo) now claims this beer, first brewed in 1975, as the “first modern American IPA since prohibition.”

We first found this beer at The Brickskeller, Washington’s iconic pioneer beer bar, and we were swept away by it.   By any name it’s use of whole cone hopping, dry hopping and slow carbonation were as revolutionary as the brewery claims.

When created Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale, which some now claim was the first modern American IPA brewed in the east, by sitting down with the brewers and pouring samples of nearly dozen different beers to show them what we had in mind for the beer’s characteristics.  About a half a dozen beers we had found (on both sides of the Atlantic) had the greatest influence, but two especially stood out; Anchor’s Liberty was one of them.

Liberty is filtered to clarity, but our Hop Pocket was a bit hazy (actually hazy, not murky like some of today’s “hazy” beers) and we were thrilled to have a chance at the Anchor Taps, across the street from the brewery, to taste an unfiltered version that we thought might be even closer to our memories of Hop Pocket.  It was a really interesting experience, but we were surprised by the degree that the yeast dominated the experience.  It certainly wasn’t the same as the filtered commercial version and we loved the experience.  Ellie liked it better than filtered Liberty,  but if I were going to settle down for the evening with one or the other, I might go for the slightly more sedate filtered version.

A side note:  we found this beer to be a bit more tart than we expected.  Some of that is understandably the yeast, but it’s a 100% Cascade hopped beer.  Cascades seem to have developed even more grapefruit and sharpness over the past 20 years, which probably doesn’t bother the growers at all and may help explain why Cascade continues to be such a common ingredients in a wide range of flavorful beers.

The Beer–  Yeast is a bit player in this more vibrant version of a classic beer.   Lots of fruit shows — some of it tart– and we suspect the yeast is behind that fruit although the impact of the Cascades seems to be important as well.  Very chalky.  It’s a low key IPA by today’s standards, but that makes it somewhat more moreish.

Value — Good to very good.  Seven bucks in SF is a bit below average for a pint of good beer, and you can’t get this one anywhere else.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #12 Anchor Steam Beer, San Francisco, California

Date:  July 10, 2019  —

The Story—We were surprised to find beer-bar goers, and even some geeks, who didn’t know the story behind Anchor Brewing’s iconic “steam” beer.  We won’t go back over the basics in this post, but you can read more in an earlier post here.

It’s hard to say how closely the current Anchor Steam resembles the steam beers of the past.  Anchor still ferments its steam beer in shallow open fermentors and uses an lager yeast at near ale temperatures.  The open fermentors now, however, are in sealed, carefully controlled, and cooled rooms unlike the big open roof top cool ships used not only by German brewers, but Belgians who were making lambics.

Anchor was on the brink of bankruptcy when Fritz Maytag bought and revived it. The beers from Anchor were wonderful at their best but often not nearly at their best. We’re guessing that those pre-Maytag beers were pretty close to what you might have found a few decades earlier in breweries in California and Nevada.

Plenty of people say this beer has changed in the last 30 years.  We think we –and the context in which we are drinking–are what has changed.  Decades ago it stood out in a very small group of beers with full flavor.  Today, it’s pretty subdued in today’s market.   We still think it has its own place not only in history but as a fine alternative to super hoppy IPAs and sadly silly fruit beers.

The Beer–   Still yummy after all these years.   Lots of caramel, but some toasty malt as well before ending with a nice tangy balance.  A marvelously moreish darkish ale that can appeal to a hop head in much the same way as the very malty helles of Munich do — it’s just plain good beer.

Value —  Excellent.  In San Francisco a decent price for  a pint of beer is eight or nine bucks.  Anchor can be had–wonderfully fresh– for five bucks at the Anchor Taps across the street from the brewery.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #11 Triple Voodoo Corpse Point Black Common Lager, San Francisco

Date:  July 9, 2019  —

The Story—  Triple Voodoo is fairly typical of newish brewery taps these days: lots of beer choices and enough room to enjoy them.  It has the advantage of sitting steps away from the
“T” line tram that runs down 3rd street so its easier to get to than many of SF’s other small craft houses.

We were intrigued by their idea of brewing a “Black Common Lager.”  “California Common” is the name imitators of Anchor Steam beer use to avoid getting sued by whoever owns Anchor at the time, but we’ve never seen any stray so far from the common path to make a dark version.  Interestingly, the people at the bar had never heard the term “California Common” despite living in the city of the style’s birth.   We’ll have more to say about Steam Beer in tomorrow’s post.

The Beer– Very dark.  Chewy and slightly herbal, the black malt has a bit of an edge and a fruity tartness piles on.  Happily all the flavors are somewhat understated.  I probably wouldn’t order a pitcher, but it was a pleasant curiosity that didn’t have to be as tasty as it was.

Value — Good.  A half a buck cheaper than the usual $8 a pint.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #10 San Francisco (SF) Broadway IPA

Date:  July 8, 2019  —

The Story—  The San Francisco Brewing Company was one of the Bay area’s early attempts at craft brewing, and breweries using the name stretch back to the 19th century.   By the time we got to it in 1991 it was a true 20th century craft brewery — theoretically the 4th oldest in the US.  In truth, though, we weren’t very impressed with the beers then nor on a subsequent visit in 2007.  The brewery closed in 2009 ostensibly for “financial reasons.”  We’re not surprised that a brewery selling sub-par beer in the 21st century had “financial reasons” to deal with.   The building — one of the oldest bars in the state– has since been reborn as the Comstock Saloon.

In 2012 Josh Leavy acquired rights to the name and began contract brewing, selling his beers on the patio of Ghiradelli Square.  He’s since acquired a large space inside the building and brews beers on site.  It’s a short walk from the water, and there’s also a bus stop a few steps away.  It’s a big spacious place to drink and features a variety of games and a self-serve tap system that allows you to taste– or drink– in whatever quantities you want.

The beers are a huge improvement over the previous incarnation with especially good big hoppy IPAs.  And why not?  This is the West Coast.

The Beer–  It’s a full bodied chewy chalky IPA with plenty of citrus and pine and, eventually, a nice touch of the flowers they include in their description.   There’s a good hop-malt balance, though a bit of a sugary residue does remain in the aftertaste.   It’s the kind of beer you’d hope to find on a trip to the epicenter of the craft beer revolution.

Value —  Good.  $8 for a pint is pretty much standard for this town that sometimes still feels like it’s caught up in some kind of gold rush.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”