Steam Beer on Tap Sign
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: One (1) sign
label: Description (Brief)
content: Yellow sign with red anchor and blue writing: "STEAM BEER ON TAP"
label: Description
content: This sign hung on the wall in the taproom of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California. When the brewery opened in 1896, it was one of multiple breweries that brewed steam beer, a style that had originated in San Francisco. Steam beer was first brewed by immigrant German brewers in mid- and late-nineteenth-century San Francisco and became popular among Gold Rush crowds who filled the city’s saloons. Though a lager, the warmer temperatures allowed during the beer’s production—historically unavoidable in northern California prior to mechanical refrigeration—enabled the development of certain ale-like characteristics. The style likely derived its name from the signature hiss that resulted from tapping a keg of this highly carbonated beer, as well as the steam it produced when sitting in open fermentation tanks on cool Bay Area evenings. In addition to Cream Ale, of Genesee, New York, and Kentucky Common, of Louisville, Kentucky, steam beer, or California Common, is among a handful of beer styles that are unique to particular American places.
label: Description
content: In 1965, Fritz Maytag III purchased the historic but struggling Steam Beer Brewing Company (later, Anchor Brewing Company). With his entrepreneurial roots and zeal for science, Maytag revitalized the brewery. He perfected the brewery’s recipe for steam beer, an effervescent style that had originated in nineteenth-century San Francisco, and brewed European styles—porter, barleywine, pale ale—then unfamiliar to many Americans. As a self-taught brewer and savvy entrepreneur, Maytag inspired many who dreamed of opening their own small breweries. Historians consider Anchor Brewing Company to have been the first post-Prohibition American microbrewery. Microbreweries, brewpubs, and “craft” breweries proliferated throughout the nation in the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond. In August 2023, Sapporo USA liquidated Anchor Brewing Company.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Anchor Brewing Company through Mike Minami
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0113.14
label: accession number
content: 2023.0113
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0113.14
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sign
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 3/4 in x 13 1/2 in; 40.005 cm x 34.29 cm