California Common/Steam Beer
Posted on | July 31, 2009 | No Comments
California Common is the name given to a style of beer made in America. It is also known as Steam Beer but that name has since been trademarked by the Anchor Brewing Company who make the most famous commercial example of the style.
Anchor Steam is one of my absolute favourite beers and I always grab some whenever I see it (which isn’t very often). Stylistically it sits in a bit of a grey area between lager and a light (coloured) ale – think of it as an extremely malty, dry lager.
The style was developed by immigrant brewers in San Francisco – mostly German – who were trying to replicate the helles and pilseners of the old country. Without mechanical refrigeration and with a consistent year-round temperature hovering between 15 and 20 °C they were unable to lager the beer in the traditional German way (ie: aging the beer at near freezing temperatures) and so the beer was fermented slightly warmer and therefore developed more fruity esters and flavours than a typical lager beer would.
After listening to a podcast from The Brewing Network (suck it, Schuman) which featured the guys from Linden Street Brewery in Oakland, Ca I decided to have a crack at my own version of the style. Despite being a relatively obscure beer style, there’s actually a lot of information available about the beer. After studying Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles and the BN podcast I came up with a recipe that I hope will bring me somewhere close. (I should point out that my recipe has been influenced by the ingredients I have to hand. Unfortunately I don’t have a local home brew shop so I have to buy my ingredients in bulk and do the best I can with what I buy. Northern Brewer is the classic California Common hop but I don’t have any – German Perle will have to do. Or I just call it a Nottingham Common instead!)
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