What Can Brown Do for You?

Day #585 Brekle's Brown / Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco, CA
Previously from this brewery: Anchor Steam (a Top 25 beer) and Liberty Ale

Keeping things moving today, and getting right down to business with another beer review.  Hopefully your day is treating you well!  Today your beer review is a bottle of Brekle's Brown from Anchor Brewing, in San Francisco.  This brown ale pours with a light brown color and just a hint of head around the edge.  There are aromas of sweet malt, and when you take a sip you get flavors of toffee and citrus, with big doses of malt which give a nice sweetness and touch of roasted flavor to the beer.  There's a touch of chocolate at the finish, too which gives it a nice, rich finish.  Good beer, but I wouldn't expect anything else from a legendary American brewery. Curious about the name of the beer?  It's a homage to the original brewer who opened the brewery... keep reading to learn more.

Soooo handsome

About that name.... from their website: "Anchor Brewing’s roots date back to the early 1850s and the California gold rush, when pioneer brewer Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco from Germany. In 1871, he purchased an old beer-and-billiards saloon near Russian Hill and transformed it into the little brewery that—twenty-five years later—would be renamed Anchor."

Thing to Think About Today:
You know that a brown ale is likely to bring some Bobby Brown!  Let's all get down to some Every Little Step to close things out here.  What's not to love about spandex shorts and suspenders?  I totally need to bring that look back, along with the blazer with shoulder pads but no shirt.  Fashion, yo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0FKzPfsxA4

"A girl like you is like a dream come true / a real life fantasy"

Anchor Leg of Vacation Relay

Beer #215 Anchor Steam / Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, CA

Continuing to wind my way through the last few (and best) breweries from our vacation trip.  The beer of the day is Anchor Steam, from Anchor Brewing. This beer has long been a favorite of mine, since I first started to realize the awesomeness of craft beer.  I had this one on draft at the Eagle Cafe, a seafood restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf with a view of the sea lions on Pier 39.   Nice spot for food, beer, and people watching (and sea lion watching) if you're in the neighborhood. 

This beer has a dark amber hue with a creamy white head, and your nose picks up aromas of caramel malts.  You get an impressive meal of bread, malt, light citrus, caramel, and a bit of hop bitterness on the finish.  Very smooth, very easy drinking, very nice.  Without a doubt, Anchor has earned a spot in my Top 25 list, and it will take some enormously amazing beers to knock Anchor off the list.

You may be wondering what's with the name, and I can help you with that.  Steam refers to an old nickname for beer produced on the West Coast without the use of refrigeration.  In order to cool the beer, it was pumped to shallow containers on the roof of the brewery.  During this cooling process, steam would rise up from the warm containers as they cooled in the breeze.  Anchor lawyered up in 1981 and trademarked the name, so now other beers brewed in this same style as Anchor Steam (warmer fermentation in shallow open air vessels) are called "California Common" rather than steam beers.



Sooo tasty.



I desperately wanted to steal that glass.  Next time.  Anchor has a long tradition of brewing, as they trace their roots back to 1871 when a German settler bought a pool hall in San Francisco and started producing beer.  The brewery was sold to another German brewer in 1896 and renamed Anchor.  While it's changed owners and locations a number of times since then, they've carried the brand name forward.  I've drank a few of their other options, such as the Small Beer, Bock, Humming Ale, and Liberty Ale.  All great beers, but to me, the best of the bunch is still their flagship Steam beer.

Thing to Think About Today:
Anchors, boats, summer time.....boat drinks.  But Boat Drinks, the song, not some fruity mai tai nonsense.  Beer goes with boats, people.  Trust me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPUiXWFtB4

Beer 62: Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale

Tonight we feast at The Farmers' Cabinet for a roomie reunion dinner!  Yay!  I'm beyond excited to be trying this restaurant.  The beer list is phenomenal and I am really proud to say that I've already tried many of the breweries on their list.  Who goes somewhere that offers not one but two beers from Norway (?!?) and has already had both of them before?  Evidently me, the crazy beer blogger. 

There's Mikkeller, Nogne, Haand, Baladin, Stillwater...where do I begin???

***

But before I can hit the road to enjoy my night out with friends, I have to get my review in.  A few nights ago I double-upped on my tastings for the evening and have a review of Anchor Brewing's Liberty Ale in my back pocket. 

It was poured into a pint glass.  It was very orange in color and had an off-white head.  It smelled of peaches and kind of like hairspray.  Hmm...not promising at all.  After tasting it, I thought, "Holy hops!"  I didn't know it was dry hopped until after I selected it and I'm learning that I tend not to like dry hopped beer.  The Anchor website mentions a unique aroma.  I'd call peaches and hairspray unique.  The hop flavor gives way to a mildy fruit-based sweetness but doesn't take away the hop bite.  I'll admit it is quite smooth to drink but definitely not one of my favorites. 

We'll be visiting Anchor Brewing this summer -- in fact, it will probably be one of the first stops on the great beer-venture of 2012.  Anchor Steam is far and away Gary's favorite beer.  I wish he was around when I drank this one to have his verdict on it.

Until tomorrow, friends...