Booze: Pint of Anchor Steam Please...

By -
 EDIT: Apparently Anchor Steam is technically a lager as it's fermented with lager yeast. I stand corrected by Steve & Ben

Last night in the pub:

Me: Pint of Anchor Steam please.

Barman: *looks at 3 hand pumps* Sorry we don't have that, mate.

Me: I'm pretty sure you do as I had it in here on Sunday and it says on the board above my head; it'll be on a keg tap.

Barman: What's the name of the brewery?

Me: Anchor.

Barman: What's the name of the beer?

Me: Steam.

Barman: *Shakes his head then turns round to co-worker* Erm... Do we have A-N-C-H-O-R S-T-E-A-M?

Bar Wench: Yeah, it's that lager on the end.


A fucking lager?

This occured in a pub that has been National Beer Pub of The Year in the Good Beer Guide four times and been CAMRA's National Pub of the Year twice.

I was offended that she referred to Anchor Steam as a lager... I presume she said it purely because it's on a keg tap. It is not excusable.

I bought a pint anyway but I drank it with disgust at what had just occured.


Comments

  1. Unknown5 July 2012 at 13:05

    Nothing like education your staff is there?

    ReplyDelete
  2. beersiveknown5 July 2012 at 13:13

    hate to disappoint you but it technically *is* a lager, albeit fermented warm.

    it uses lager yeast and is lagered (ie stored)

    http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/anchor_steam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown5 July 2012 at 13:40

      Oooh, thanks for that Steve.

      I stand corrected.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous5 July 2012 at 13:18

    Ha Ha and this from the guy who hates beer snobs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown5 July 2012 at 13:40

      Well to be honest, defining between different styles of beer isn't beer snobbery...

      Delete
  4. Unknown5 July 2012 at 14:47

    Hey Nate, don't feel to bad! I did a review of Des de Moor's "London's Best Beer Pubs & Bars" and mentioned Sierra Nevada (in the Dean Swift) amongst the lagers they had on draught.

    But there is a more important point here about educating bar staff. It's something that most chains don't do a thing about and yet, as you describe, and make a huge difference to the appreciation of a visit to a bar. I guess though it's all connected with how we don't respect this element of the service industry or invest into it in anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown5 July 2012 at 14:55

      I don't feel bad - I made an error of judgement (in the words of Jimmy Carr). It tastes and feels like a kegged ale. I'm glad I was corrected.

      Sierra Nevada a lager? You should be thrown in jail ;-)

      Indeed, staff need to be educated. Especially in somewhere as highly revered as the pub I was in. I don't want to say which pub it is but anyone in Norwich would know.

      I like going in bars where even if they don't know about every single beer they'll happily offer you a sample!

      Delete
  5. James6 July 2012 at 00:27

    There are still VERY few pubs in Australia that "know" beer...so I'm just in the natural habit of over explaining which beer I want when I order. There's probably only about 3 or 4 bars in my city that properly train their staff in respect to beer...and they are all craft beer centric bars.

    I dream of...and advocate for...the day when the bartender will know more about the beer than me. But we're still a long way behind here down under.

    ReplyDelete
  6. what we’re drinking6 July 2012 at 20:13

    Anchor Steam is a steam beer, which means, as has been offered thus far, it uses a lager yeast but is brewed at ale temperatures. It was originally produced in California during the first half of the 19th century. Anchor Steam actually copyrighted the style name, hence the new moniker, California Common Lager. For more, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_beer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown6 July 2012 at 20:16

      Interesting to know, thanks for that.

      It seems to be a fine line drawn by the yeast hence my confusion as I knew it's fermented in open tanks like an ale!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beats: Album of the Month – August

By -
Image
If you follow me on twitter or read my ramblings on this here blog, you would’ve seen that I did a Beer of the Month post. It was a difficult decision to make. You may also notice if you follow me on twitter that I listen to A LOT of different music; I think I got something like 30 new albums in August alone which is ridiculous. You’d think with that much new music, picking an album of the month would be difficult, right? Wrong. This was a simple choice. So, which band wins the almighty honour of Booze, Beats & Bites’ first ever album of the month? The award goes to…
Read more

Lidl Currywurst - A Review

By -
Image
Ah, Currywurst! A Berlin institution and indeed, if you've been to Berlin and didn't eat Currywurst whilst you were there, I'm not sure we can be friends. My first Currywurst was on my first ever trip to Berlin in August 2016 where I stumbled upon a stall at the Street Theatre Festival on Alexanderplatz; I grabbed a cheap €3 plate as well as a beer and sat in the warm sun, and fell in love. Later on that trip I visited the Currywurst museum (yes, such a thing exists) and although a novelty, I feel it was possibly the wurst (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) eleven euros I've ever spent. The premise of Currywurst, for those who don't know, is simple: It's effectively sliced boiled and fried sausage coated in a sweet curry ketchup and topped with curry powder; you'll usually find it served with chips and mayonnaise on nearly every street corner in Berlin. I'd seen the famous CurryKing brand of microwavable Currywurst in supermarkets in Germany but never did I e...
Read more

The Session 65: So lonely…

By -
Image
The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community which was started by Stan Hieronymus at  Appellation Beer . On the first Friday of each month, all participating bloggers write about a predetermined topic. Each month a different blog is chosen to host The Session, choose the topic, and post a roundup of all the responses received. For more info on The Session, check out the Brookston Beer Bulletin’s  nice archive page . Despite still being a young blogger with not the greatest following, I really wanted to get in there early. I’ll probably get about two responses, maximum but screw it. It’s all fun, right? Speaking of fun, going to the pub with a bunch of mates is great… you have a few beers and a laugh, generally a fun time and all. I love going to the pub with mates but sometimes I go to a pub alone and I enjoy it. Other people say I’m weird for this as there seems to be a stigma attached to being in the pub alone – alcoholism. T...
Read more