beers of conviction

Putting the steam in steam beer

Dovetail Brewery coolship

Jay Brooks broke a bit of news Thursday in his Flagship February post about Anchor Brewing. There is a new history of the brewery on the way that includes hundreds of archival photos.

The official publication date is May 2, 2023. That seems like a long time to wait to see if the book will provide a definitive reason why steam beer was/is called steam beer. Here are some of the contenders (I kind of like the “Doctor Steam” version myself):

– What looked and sounded like steam was generated by the pressure resulting from highly carbonated kegs.

– Steam hung above rooftop vessels that initially cooled the beer.

– Pete Steam invented the process.

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When smoke and hops belong together

Chuckanut Grodziskie in a Browar Grodzisk glass.

“Smoke taint,” an undesirable result of fires in grape growing regions that has plagued winemakers for years, came to hops in 2020. I wrote about the topic for All Access subscribers to the Brewing Industry Guide and will report more in Hop Queries next week.

Most important, this is bad news for farmers affected because it reduces the value of some of their crop. But brewers should be aware that tainted hops could make their way into the supply chain. As one grower told me, “Here’s hoping we don’t see a rush of rauchbier’s coming into the market.” Unlike many people, I like rauchbiers, but I’m not looking forward to being surprised by a juicy IPA that tastes like licking an ash tray. (“Licking an ashtray” being a phrase used to describe wines made with smoke-tainted grapes.)

There is a time, however, that smoke and hops belong together. So returning to one of my favorite topics, I’ve recently tasted two very excellent smoked wheat beers, a style that through the years has been known both as Grodziskie and Grätzer. (A bit of disclosure, the breweries involved shipped me these beers.)

The photo at the top is Chuckanut Grodziskie, poured into a glass Browar Grodzisk had made when they opened on the site of a former brewery in Grodzisk in 2016. That’s a stock certificate for United Grodzisk Breweries, the lone brewery in Grodzisk for most of the 20th century. Welcome to the full 21st Century Grodziskie Experience.

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Drunk every day in California since 1851

Anchor Brewing tri-fold brochure from the 1970s

In case you missed it, Anchor Brewing unveiled new labels this week. Many words have been spilled analyzing the new look, what this means, Whether it was a good idea, and so on. I will not be adding any.

Instead, here are two of six frames from a tri-fold brochure the brewery produced in the 1970s. Beer should be fun. This is.

Lagers, lifestyles and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Two stories, both rather long, to be considered in tandem:

Why Is Screaming Eagle’s Winemaker Making $90 6-Packs of Lager?
The headline nicely summarizes a 2,700-plus-word tale. After signaling he might not think much of the story on Twitter, Jeff Alworth followed with a blog post making that real clear. Paul Jones at Cloudwater Brew and Chris Lohring at Notch Brewing were equally unimpressed. But nobody is denying that this is a story about lifestyle as much as beer.

No Bad Days — Island Brands Wants to Cash in on “Cool Vibes” to Challenge Michelob Ultra, Corona
Did somebody say lifestyle? “[The founders] say they want their beer to function as a lifestyle brand, citing the pricey outdoor gear company Yeti as a successful example. The lifestyle Island is targeting is coastal, active, fitness- and sports-oriented; the brewery’s ambassadors—who are compensated via discounts and free beer—include wind surfers, kayakers, and Crossfit influencers.”

Make no mistake, authentic/traditional/craft beer is also about lifestyle. Thinking about that I tracked down a conversation I had with Saint Arnold Brewing founder Brock Wagner in 2003.

“We’re trying to add 10 customers at a time. The big brewers are trying to add a million. We’re in different businesses,” he said. “We both make something called beer, but they don’t really taste much alike. The big brewers are of a completely different mindset. A-B has more in common with Coca-Cola than they do with us. That’s not to say their beer is bad. It’s just different from what we make. If you look at their advertising you see they are trying to sell lifestyle.”

I asked him what Saint Arnold was selling.

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