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Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

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Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#161

Post by jonathankoren »

tptacek wrote: post #99
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #65

>sold to Sapporo in 2017 Ah, I was wondering where the pressure was coming from. The idea that this 150 year old brewery is closing down a truly cornerstone beer in craft beer history because the label art is expensive - despite weathering untold recessions and tough periods - strains credulity

I'm not sure why that's hard to believe. For most of those 150 years, Anchor had a sector of the market to itself. But there are 9,552 craft breweries in the US today, and several hundred of them are quite excellent.

The vast majority of these craft breweries are tiny regional affairs that don’t compete with each other.

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#162

Post by samplatt »

cwzwarich wrote: post #96
bsder wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is happening in the craft beer market? Ballast Point had a similar trajectory. They got bought for a gigabuck and now are just gone . Why the hell would you buy a company and then screw it up ? In the case of Ballast Point, all Constellation Brands had to do was leave the bought company alone . And, no, I don't believe that the issue is because you can buy great beers in every market. Hogwash. Maybe I can buy IP…

> Why is everything in craft brew now shipping in cans instead of bottles? When did that happen? - They block all light - They’re better sealed than bottles - They weigh less and are more compact than bottles - They don’t break - They’re more often recycled The freshness reasons probably correlate with the rise of hazy IPAs, which are more sensitive to freshness than other styles.

>- They weigh less and are more compact than bottles

This is the real key one. My intel from a brewery that was sadly bought by Coke was that the savings in transit & shipping is staggering. More beverages in the same amount of space, which also means less costs for refrigeration.

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#163

Post by seiferteric »

rationalist wrote: post #16
pkulak wrote: post #14

Personally, I have so many great, local breweries, I never think to get anything from out of state, usually not even out-of-city. This sounds like a reasonable move seeing the proliferation of great beers.

> I have so many great, local breweries My city has a lot, but I personally can't share in them. I will instantly vomit if I drink any local brews (in any locale). Same with whiskey. I can drink nationally-distributed beers and vodka with no ill-effects. I have no idea why. I'm jumping on this comment because I imagine there are some HN readers that might have a theory and I would be very interested in hearing them.

Unfortunately hops is a migraine trigger for me and drinking overly hoppy beers gives me headaches very quickly and last quite a while, so I stick to low hops beers, loggers, ales porter stouts etc. But good quality low hops beers can be hard to find now!

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#164

Post by monocasa »

pdntspa wrote: post #143
vrosas wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped drinking Yuengling when they got cozy with Trump in 2016. So many other superior breweries in Philly - Yards, Victory, Attic just to name a few.

I don't really believe in this whole stupid 'boycott them because they don't align with my values' bullshit, people should be free to express their political opinions however they see fit

> people should be free to express their political opinions however they see fit

But that doesn't apply to boycotts?

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#165

Post by brewdad »

fisherjeff wrote: post #128
rootusrootus wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guilty of the same. I'm about halfway between Portland and Bend, which are both high on the list of breweries per capita, so I can try a huge variety of beers without ever needing to look outside the state. I try to get local beer whenever we travel, but I mostly find that it's just the same as the local stuff, it doesn't feel different.

Okay now I’m trying to guess where you live that you could say you’re halfway between Portland and Bend. Unless… do you drink a lot of Ice Axe?

I’m guessing there’s a lot of wind surfing nearby. :)

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#166

Post by ojbyrne »

prottog wrote: post #23
0xB31B1B wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate local beers. Local wine makes sense, there is terroir, a sense of place etc. Local beers are just some weird competition to see who can make the hopiest bitterest beer. I don't want to try a new lager every time I cross county lines, when I want beer I want something reliable.

People get it in their heads that small and local means good or at least better than the stuff mass-produced by MegaCorp, but that's not always the case. I think beer is a case where it's hard to beat Big Beer. Heineken, the second-biggest brewery in the world, moved 231.2 million hectoliters of beer in 2021[0], or nearly 19,000 acre-feet of beer (!). How many locally-produced lagers actually taste better than Heinek…

I’ve never had a Heineken that wasn’t skunky.

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#167

Post by phillc73 »

dfjklseldklk wrote: post #21
0xB31B1B wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate local beers. Local wine makes sense, there is terroir, a sense of place etc. Local beers are just some weird competition to see who can make the hopiest bitterest beer. I don't want to try a new lager every time I cross county lines, when I want beer I want something reliable.

I agree the style of beers made "locally" is weird, but the justification for local beer, on keg at least, is that it does seem hard to transport them successfully. In the UK beers do taste best on tap when you're within about 50 miles of the brewery. I'm sure they could be transported further safely, but in practice them almost never are.

The UK beer market is quite different, especially when considering cask ale.

This beer is unpasteurised and still fermenting in the cask when it leaves the brewery! The carbonation of the beer comes from creation of CO2 during fermentation, rather than injection of CO2 post-fermentation.

This makes for a pretty unstable beer, that doesn’t travel particularly well and should be consumed reasonably quickly!

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#168

Post by jonathankoren »

rootusrootus wrote: post #90
bsder wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is happening in the craft beer market? Ballast Point had a similar trajectory. They got bought for a gigabuck and now are just gone . Why the hell would you buy a company and then screw it up ? In the case of Ballast Point, all Constellation Brands had to do was leave the bought company alone . And, no, I don't believe that the issue is because you can buy great beers in every market. Hogwash. Maybe I can buy IP…

> I can buy IPA, IPAer, IPAest, and IPAestest in every market--maybe. However, dark, heavy porters I'm totally with you, though my personal love is sour beers. IPA rules the market, to the point where I have trouble distinguishing between whichever super-hoppy IPA is currently the best. But good sour beers are not nearly so common. If someone ever buys Cascade Brewing and kills it, I will be wildly irritated. I do se…

IPAs really suck. There’s a plethora of beer types, and we get hoppy trash forced on us.

Craft breweries love the IPA for three reasons. First, they’re one of the easiest beers to make. Second, they stay the most stable on the shelf/truck. Third, toxic style trend. But mostly, it’s the first two reasons.

Re: Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale

#170

Post by [deleted] »

girvo wrote: post #36
pjm331 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raging Bitch is made by Flying Dog brewery whose art is done by Ralph Steadman - well known for his collaborations with Hunter S Thompson. I started drinking it because of that fact after reading Fear and Loathing for the first time in college. It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc

> It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc As all good stouts should be, in my humble opinion! My all time favourite beer is the BrewDog, Nogne and Mikkeller collaboration stout: the Black Tokyo Horizon. It's 17.2%!

[deleted]
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