Cannon and Andy here. This review was actually done a few hours before Dark Lord, but shhhh dont tell anyone. It’s a beautiful day for beer. If you didn’t know already, Anchor Steam is an old old brewery based in San Fransisco that played a major part in building enthusiasm for small, craft brews.

Brewery Home: San Francisco

Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle into tasting glasses

Beer Style: California Common Beer/Steam Beer (made with lager yeasts at ale fermentation temperatures)

Appearance: Dark amber. Brian: “almost like tree sap. Mine (Cannon) has a strong off-white head, good lacing.” Lightly filtered, looks full bodied and beautiful.

Aroma: First sip is a mild sweet, molasses or brown sugar. Faint hints of dark roasted malts. The lightly citrus hop bite only comes in the very end. It gets sweeter (with more hay-like, earthy) as you empty the glass.

Taste: Dark and roasted but with the strong, smooth notes of a lager. Cannon thinks it’s too dry for him, almost irony; “still it makes my mouth water…my tongue is crying.” Great mouthfeel overall. Thick on the first sip but the hops and bubbles bite on the way down, refreshing. Andy definitely gets the lager yeast notes: “it has a nice progression start to finish, ends semi-sweet with good balance.” Stop drinking for a moment though and you’ll notice the strong bitterness of the hops.

ABV: 4.9%

Drink one or all?: 3 or 4. Great session beer.

Cost: $8/sixer

Overall: Andy: 16+/20 (right up my alley), Brian: 15/20 (even though I usually despise these bitter ales)