A distinctively American hybrid style originating in Gold Rush-era San Francisco — lager yeast fermented at warm ale temperatures, producing a beer that combines lager-like crispness with ale-like fruitiness. Typically 4.5–5.5% ABV, amber. Northern Brewer hops contribute the style’s signature woody-minty bitterness. “Steam Beer” is Anchor Brewing’s trademark term; “California Common” is the generic style name.
In the glass
Origin
California common — long known as steam beer — grew out of Gold Rush-era San Francisco. German immigrants brought lager yeast west but had little ice or refrigeration, so they fermented it warm, producing a crisp yet fruity hybrid of ale and lager character; the wort was cooled in broad, shallow open vessels exposed to the cool coastal air. The beer became a cheap, working-class staple, and by the late 19th century perhaps 25 breweries made it in San Francisco alone. Its name is uncertain in origin: a 1902 brewing handbook attributed “steam” to the high pressure that built up in the casks, while other accounts point to the clouds of vapor rising from the open cooling vessels. As refrigeration reached the West, brewers shifted to true lagers and steam beer nearly died out. Anchor, which had brewed under that name in San Francisco since 1896, was the last practicing producer and itself near bankruptcy when Fritz Maytag — an heir to the Maytag appliance fortune — bought into it beginning in 1965 and revived it; his Anchor Steam became a touchstone of the emerging craft beer movement. Anchor registered “Steam Beer” as a trademark in 1981, which led judging organizations to adopt “California common” as the generic name. The brewery went dark in July 2023; the brand was acquired in May 2024 by Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, who pledged to revive it, though Anchor remained dormant and unrelaunched as of 2026.
Notes
“Steam beer” is Anchor’s trademark, registered in 1981, and the company defended it vigorously — sending cease-and-desist letters even over playful or oblique references, which is why judging bodies settled on the blander “California common” as the generic name. A few brewers have tweaked around it: Victory’s “dampf” beer (dampf is German for steam) and Sly Fox’s Gold Rush lager nod to the style without provoking a letter. Anchor’s reach stopped at the border, though — Canada’s Sleeman kept its own steam beer by demonstrating prior use, and Bavaria’s Maisel makes a dampfbier named for old steam engines rather than the California style. The defining technique is simple to describe but distinctive in the glass: lager yeast fermented warm, traditionally with woody-minty Northern Brewer hops.
Defining examples
Anchor Steam (archetype; brewery dormant since 2023)·Anchor California Lager (adjacent)·Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager (adjacent)·Adam’s Amber·Southampton West Coast Steam Beer