Infrequently but still sometimes usefully at beerbybart.com for the Bay Area beer culture. We got a national award for one thoroughly reported post in the height of the brewer/maker/locavore/anti-multinational swill era. That was such an honor

So they researched and reinvented porter rather than coloring Steam. And not in the index, specific to Steam, p103: May 1970…Fritz began adding caramel malt which he called dark malt… instead of coloring…” 1968 switched from 6row to 2row and gave up Cluster hops for Northern Brewer. Excellent book!

Jeff, Gail here. Frm above mentioned book p126, after refs to English porters brought round the horn pre & post gold rush, “Baruth and Shinkel continued the brewery’s porter tradition in 1896…”When Fritz bought it the “dark steam” was caramel colored. He cancelled it because it was cheating.

Maybe there are historic grain bills or recipes out there? For oldtime hops, people have mentioned the stray small town porch hops in California taste more like Cluster? Somebody know about that? Anyway, Anchor let their yeast evolve and pasteurized to package so NO yeast lab versions are a match.

Yeah it was all over the west coast before refrigeration made German and East coast brewing temperatures possible. No ice houses on the coast.

A historic version that is hippie era SF Steam has to be a light amber lager with Northern Brewer hops at a higher than lager temperature (lager it well). An interpretation for the 1890s? Have at it. It was competing with more expensive pilsners in the local marketplace by then.

Highly recommend The Anchor Brewing Story by Burkhart. A core volume for your USA beer history library. Fritz Maytag chose Northern Brewer hops for the only surviving example. He did not use the famously infected yeast from the old brewery when he bought it. So if you want to brew history…

The hazy is a super-peachy nectaron ipa. The Pilsner is German style with all the classic attributes. Mmmm, good

Yay! Keep on beer traveling.

What a cool thing to do. How do you search through starter packs to see if there’s a similar one in another destination?

Read an interesting take on why Trump loves tariffs. Didn’t fact check but the premise is that the president can create a tariff then exempt certain industries or even companies. Another way to punish “enemies” (i’m glad he’s not a Prohibitionist) But would he have the granularity to reward donors?

Typing on a very bouncy bus ride! Wanted to plug trying a good NA stout with a shot of nice dark rum. With a proper stout the alcohol is getting up too high for my preferences. I think there’s a ton of potential. -Gail

Agreed. First time I got a sample 6 pack of