FOOLCiRCLE

• BEST OF SHOW at the 21st annual H.O.P.S. B.O.P.S. in Philadelphia
• 1st Place at the 21st Annual HOPS BOPS in Philly in the California Common category
• Bronze Certificate winner in the 2004 National American Homebrewers Association (AHA)competition.

Notes & Comments:
(side bar) This beer style is typically made by a distinctive method of bottom-fermentation at high temperatures and in unusually wide shallow vessels. This technique, producing a beer with elements of both lager and ale in character, is said to have been common in California when, in the absence of supplies of ice, early brewers tried to make bottom fermenting beers."

Basically this is a lager-style beer brewed in an ale fashion with special yeast. The yeast in this beer is really the key.

Just so everyone knows, I am STILL astonished this beer won Best of Show at HOPS BOPS 2004. Not that I didn't think it was a good beer, I just thought that I have brewed better, in my humble opinion.

This beer is also known as Steam Beer, with the most famous being Anchor Steam. This is from Anchor Brewing's website on about the history of why it is called Steam Beer any why no one but Anchor Brwing can call it that, "Anchor Steam derives its unusual name from the 19th century when "steam" seems to have been a nickname for beer brewed on the West Coast of America under primitive conditions and without ice. The brewing methods of those days are a mystery and, although there are many theories, no one can say with certainty why the word "steam" came to be associated with beer. For many decades Anchor alone has used this quaint name for its unique beer. In modern times, "Steam" has become a trademark of Anchor Brewing." For more info see Anchor Brewing