Fermentation is an integral part of the brewing process. Fresh wort from the brewhouse is placed into vats or tanks and yeast is added. The yeast consumes the sugars in the wort and converts them into ethanol and carbon dioxide, and along the way, generates heat and multiplies exponentially. In today’s modern brewing, fermenters… read entire article
Four shiny new cellar tanks enchere recently added to our cellar room here at the brewery. We caught up with cellarman Ryan Akers, who shared a few details about the new tanks and how they will be used. What will the new tanks be used for? Ryan: The new cellar tanks will be used for… read entire article
We’ve had a lot of fun looking through the great summer photos that were submitted for our Summer Beertography Challenge. Today we’re Raising an Anchor and toasting to everyone who took the time to capture a summer moment with an Anchor brew. There are some very talented Beertographers out there! Speaking of Beertography, we’d also… read entire article
Bob Brewer answers your questions about the world of craft beer and brewing. From Greg in Chicago: On your website you say that you use only whole cone hops, is this still true? I’m a home brewer and a big fan of craft brews and I have visited many brewpubs and craft breweries, both big… read entire article
Anchor Brewing historian Dave Burkhart on the story of Anchor Brewing’s baseball-card collection. How many employees can say that the owner of their company was keeping track of their EBay purchases? And how many of those employees can say that the owner was concerned that they might not be buying enough old baseball cards with… read entire article
Former “Top Chef” contestant and San Francisco Chef Ryan Scott shares some of his Fourth of July Favorites featuring Anchor brews. I love beer. It’s just a fact that everyone that knows me is aware of. When I was getting my beer and wine license for my restaurant, Market & Rye, in Potrero Hill, the… read entire article
Imagine this picture-perfect scenario: Its summer. Blue skies and sunshine above. You’re with friends and family, doing what what we all love to do in the summertime – drinking delicious craft beer and enjoying good company. Sounds pretty good, right? We think so, too, and we’re excited to announce a fun reason to snap a… read entire article
Anchor Marketing Manager Daniel Cruz writes about the connection between hand-crafted beer and America’s pastime in the City by the Bay and beyond. A few weeks ago I had a good day at work. A fellow marketing manager asked if I would be interested in writing a blog post from the marketing perspective, a first… read entire article
The History of Northern California is Never More Than a Tank of Gas Away Anchor historian Dave Burkhart on the story behind Zymaster No. 4. How did Fort Ross, a nineteenth-century Russian fur-trading colony ninety miles north of San Francisco, become the name of the latest release in our Zymaster® Series? The answer is in… read entire article
Farmhouse ale, or “saison,” as it is now more commonly known, originated in Wallonia, which is the French-speaking part of Belgium. The style is historical and has strong artisanal roots, having been brewed in a distinct region for several hundred years by individual farmers rather than by commercial breweries. Belgian saisons were traditionally brewed by… read entire article
Bob Brewer answers your questions about the world of craft beer and brewing. Ian: Where can I get a cool lab coat like the one I saw at Anchor? Bob: Thanks for the compliment! I always feel much cooler when I put on the lab coat. Smarter too. It’s just a standard lab coat, but… read entire article
With Anchor historian Dave Burkhart and guest blogger David Johnston Mark Sarigianis contacted me last year with the hope that Anchor might be able to help David Johnston and his Sharp Teeth Press with the publication of Evan Rail’s extraordinary essay on Why Beer Matters. I was already familiar with Rail’s Good Beer Guide to… read entire article
In this three-part series, Anchor historian Dave Burkhart recounts the true tale of a man, a goat, and their beer—not bock, as one might expect, but steam beer—in nineteenth-century San Francisco. When we last heard from our heroes, Yankee Sullivan and his pet goat Jack were incarcerated, recovering from their steam-beer-induced New Year’s revelry.… read entire article
In this three-part series, Anchor historian Dave Burkhart recounts the true tale of a man, a goat, and their beer—not bock, as one might expect, but steam beer—in nineteenth-century San Francisco. In Part I of our story, we heard the San Francisco Chronicle’s account of the steam-beer-swilling San Franciscan and his steam-beer-swilling goat. The… read entire article
In this three-part series, Anchor historian Dave Burkhart recounts the true tale of a man, a goat, and their beer—not bock, as one might expect, but steam beer—in nineteenth-century San Francisco. Disclaimer: What follows is a true story, exactly as told in the San Francisco papers 115 years ago. It is literally history. We do… read entire article
The craft beer industry has seen a lot of activity in recent years having to do with the resurrection of the use of wooden barrels during the aging process. While today’s brewers are producing many differing styles that employ wood vessels somewhere along the way, the history is a bit simpler. Back in the day,… read entire article
As a seafaring nation, England was at the height of its empire through much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With far-flung colonies, a mighty navy, and one of the the world’s largest merchant fleets, the British were a dominant force in global trade for the better part of two centuries. British merchant ships like… read entire article
Bob Brewer answers your questions about the world of craft beer and brewing. Katie: When are hops ready to pick? Bob: The easy answer is when they’re ripe. Hops usually ripen, if that’s the proper term, in late summer/early fall. The plant is a fast-growing perennial that dies back every year. The cones are ready for… read entire article
Anthony: How much faster is your new plate and frame filter than the old one? Bob: It’s not necessarily any faster than the old one because the pumps, centrifuge, and pasteurizer still run at the same speed. The big difference is that there is a lot more filter surface, which means that we can run much… read entire article
Bob Brewer, Anchor’s resident expert on beer & brewing, takes a behind-the-scenes look at the craft brewing process and the terminology used in the Anchor brewhouse. What is “diatomaceous earth”? Abbreviated as D.E., we use diatomaceous earth as a beer filtering agent. D.E. occurs naturally as a mined substance comprised of the fossilized silica… read entire article
