Brewer Q & A (Issue 20)

92 Rating – Golden Road Brewing – Golden Road Hefeweizen

Responses from Golden Road co-founder Tony Yanow.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
Tony: The Golden Road brewing team worked together to make the recipe what it is. 

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Tony: While not a typical hefeweizen, I love the ease with which it drinks. It seems to go down easy -- maybe a little too easy sometimes!

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
Tony: Hefe means yeast. Weizen means wheat. We don't call it yeast wheat as that name doesn't sound so great, but the term Hefeweizen has been in use for more than 1000 years, so we decided to stick with that.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Tony: Not for me. I like it, but I'm more of an IPA guy.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Tony: A Southern California spin on an age-old, traditional style.

BC: Do you know a story -- or have a personal story -- that revolves around this beer?
Tony: Meg Gill (the other co-founder of Golden Road Brewing) and I fell in love with the style when we went to Germany to source our brew system. We drank the Weissbier at the St. Augustiner beer garden in Munich and at Weihenstephan Brewery in Freisen where they have made this style for over 1000 years.

92 Rating – Anchor Brewing Co. – Anchor Steam Beer

Responses from Anchor Brewing head brewmaster Mark Carpenter.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
Mark: The recipe goes way back to pre-prohibition times, but Fritz [Maytag, founder of Anchor Brewing] added the Northern Brewer hops, which weren’t around when the first steam beers were created. The brewery did fall on some hard times in its early days and they were forced to use sugar instead of malt, but that hasn’t been the case for years. The recipe has been the same since I got here in 1971!

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Mark: When I started at Anchor, Steam Beer was the only beer that the brewery made – for good reason. It’s just a classic beer – well-balanced with a nice, smooth hoppiness. Steam Beer used to be thought of as very hoppy, but now it’s pretty middle-of-the-road.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
Mark: The term “steam beer” goes way back to the Gold Rush era. The name is quite notable, as first you might think, “Why would you want to combine steam and beer?” Before the Gold Rush began in California there was no beer, only wine. Northern European miners came and wanted their national beverage so they started brewing it themselves using old-world techniques from their home countries. They threw in a few standard German lagering techniques, and when it was brewed, so much steam was given off that people wondered what they were doing. Of course, the concept of steam was rather new back then, as steam trains had just been invented, so steam beer was quite a novel concept as well.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Mark: Yes, Anchor Steam Beer is definitely my desert island beer, but let’s be honest; if we were on a desert island and some beer washed onshore, we would drink it no matter what it was!

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Mark: Simply one of the world’s greatest beers.