Drank my last canned Anchor Steam Beer today. I bought for doing blind taste tests verses my on brewed Steam Beer. Believe bought at Wegmans. Not seeing a date on the can, but believe at least 2 years old. Can was kept in a cool environment (37 F) since purchase.
It is just me or is the Anchor Steam simply a Vienna lager? Certainly, received the impression on the first sip.
Thoughts?
Definitely not a vienna lager. California common is its own style.
Yours tasted like a vienna lager because the brewery was sold in 2010, and again in 2017, and quality plummeted after both sales. Anchor Steam after that point tasted nothing like it used to. Sigh.
Also, even refrigerated beer will be oxidized after two years and taste nothing like it how it was intended to taste when it was fresh.
I am equating an, apparently, “stale beer” with an Vienna lager.
Most interesting.
I equated California Common to be an Americanized version of an Altbier. A bit more bitter than Vienna Lager, hybrid style, etc.
The same way many American styles develop from their old world counterparts, I can see how a brewer settling in California could take his old recipe and adapt it to the new brewing environment, ingredients, and processes that results in a distinct new style.
Maybe, I had Vienna Lager in my mind as I just had some over the Memorial Day weekend.