Anchor hasn't made actual steam beer in a very long time. Their brewing operation is effectively similar to most other mid-sized batch lagers, with modifications to bring it in line with their historic flavor profile. Historic steam beers were considered, even at the time, to be low-quality, and the method of making steam beer is primarily a way to make large quantities of beer at a low cost. Modern brewing is much more efficient thanks to technical advances than historical brewing and these types of techniques are mostly unnecessary to achieve the same thing. Anchor does do a high temperature fermentation process, which is part of what made steam beer, steam beer, and this still has direct impacts on its flavor profile. The actual process of making steam beer was only necessary prior to refrigeration, with modern technology you can have a much higher volume and more controlled brewing operation even when using high temperature methods.

The flavor of the beer is heavily influenced by the yeast strain and fermentation temperature, and the primary basis of what steam beer is, fundamentally, is lager that is fermented at relatively high temperature. The yeast strains that stand up these higher temperatures tend to produce lower quantities of the types of esters that produce lasting flavors in beer, and higher temperatures tend to result in a loss of important flavoring compounds which are types of volatile organic chemicals and tend to be temperature sensitive.

There's very specific, replicable, and well-understood reasons why high temperature lagers and steam beers don't taste as good as typical low temperature lagers. I do not think your representation of steam beer is accurate, and I feel I have some authority to that claim. I am a subject matter expert on beer, a certified cicerone, and an extensive home brewer.

I am not trying to diss Anchor, I'm simply stating a mere fact, which is that their beer is mediocre. Not bad, but it is certainly not a world class beer. It may have been in pre 1980s, but the current craft brewing culture has advanced far beyond most beer drinkers expectations. For the record, I am not a huge fan of IPAs, although I will drink them, and I don't think "craft beer" and "IPA" are analogous concepts. Your reply to me reveals your biases, and indicates you didn't critically engage with my prior comment.

They really did use steam beer process fwiw. Big stainless steel swimming pools in open air and unrefrigerated. It wasn't completely outdoors but that's a fair change to the process. I think it's reasonable to consider this as steam beer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Brewing_Company#/media/...

> high temperature lagers and steam beers don't taste as good as typical low temperature lagers

Given I like Anchor & think almost all other lagers are absolutely vile piss water, I most strongly dispute this statement

Honestly I always saw the California Common/Steam beer style as more marketing than a true style. In my head I grouped them in with amber lagers. I Totally agree that Anchor Steam was mediocre.

I agree that it is an excellent beer for it's type but steam beer as a style is dying and for good reason. Very few like that type.

The steam beer process was literally created as a way to cheaply make a lot of beer.

I like a lot of styles of beer.

I long ago put Anchor in the "meh, don't bother buying again" category.

There's a lot of new stuff to try, more all the time, and the bar for making it into the "buy again" category is damn high these days. Has been for years, really.