Food & Beer Friday :: We're pretty steamy.

This week, I didn't want to disappoint you with no Food & Beer Friday!  And what's really exciting is that this is a California beer, and we got to visit the brewery!

I mentioned that we visited Anchor Brewing Company while we were in San Francisco.  This brewery has a really cool story, and I can't do it justice.  Check out their story here!

One of my favorite beers was the Anchor Steam beer.  Unfortunately I had to improvise a bit with my beer picture this week, so you do not get to see the "thick creamy head" that the brewery describes this beer as having.  It is a deep amber color.

Anchor is really a historic beer site in San Francisco.  It's a must see if you are there.  They brew all their beers in these copper barrels which they bought from Germany (if I remember correctly).  The Steam beer is something special though.

[Open fermentation tanks]

Those are indeed tanks of beer that are fermenting.  That's the foam you can see on top.  Here is Anchor's history of the beer:

"Anchor Steam® Beer derives its unusual name from the 19th century when “steam” was a nickname for beer brewed on the West Coast of America under primitive conditions and without ice. While the origin of the name remains shrouded in mystery, it likely relates to the original practice of fermenting the beer on San Francisco’s rooftops in a cool climate. In lieu of ice, the foggy night air naturally cooled the fermenting beer, creating steam off the warm open pans. Once a nickname for any West Coast beer brewed under these conditions, today the name “steam” is a trademark of Anchor Brewing and applies only to the singular process and taste of our flagship brand - San Francisco’s original Anchor Steam® Beer. The classic of American brewing tradition since 1896."

Since they aren't allowed to just keep beer on the roof, they have the special room above to ferment the beer. Not only is the story of the beer ridiculously cool, the beer is yummy too!

[Tasting room]

[The wood and craftsmanship at the tasting room bar is just beautiful]

[You get to taste so many beers...make sure to carve out a 1-2 hour span of time for your tour and tasting]

Anchor Steam beer was definitely a favorite, but I wish I had known about Anchor beers before.  We got to taste all of the beers in the first picture.  I'm looking forward to exploring the others a bit more.

When it comes to food, I don't have a dessert or chocolate for you like I did a couple of weeks ago.  Nonetheless, recommendations say that with its "cleanness of a lager and complexity and fruit notes of an ale," it pairs perfectly with your typical summer foods like burgers and barbecue.

Have you visited Anchor Brewing before?  

Do you have a favorite Anchor Beer?

Link up my friends!

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