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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

#211

Post by inferiorhuman »

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…

  But good sour beers are not nearly so common
But, on the west coast at least, good, dry ciders are readily available.

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

#213

Post by coffee »

> "Anchor Brewing will no longer make its iconic holiday beer, Christmas Ale. The spice-laden winter warmer has been a brewing tradition since 1975 and something that Northern California beer lovers look forward to every November."

> "It’s unlikely that it will come back."

Nooooooooooo!

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

#214

Post by Master_Odin »

thehappypm wrote: post #178
kodt wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They regularly distribute to New York City and have for several years now. Philadelphia as well. They also send some to California on a semi-regular basis. It has also shown up in Denver a few times.

I don’t think they distribute outside of Vermont — if any gets there it’s because someone loaded a truck up

There's a handful of bars throughout NY that you can see at least Heady Topper at. In the capital region, Albany Ale & Oyster and The Ruck will have it with regularity. Seeing Focal Banger is much rarer, and then all their other beers are essentially taproom in Stowe only though.

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

#215

Post by viknesh »

dcow wrote: post #212

> Anchor, founded in 1896, was saved from bankruptcy in 1965 by longtime owner Fritz Maytag, and sold to Sapporo in 2017, Singer said. I see what happened.

If you're implying it was because it was sold to Sapporo, it's possible the causality is wrong. It might have been sold because it was difficult to operate profitably, especially given how much the craft beer market has intensified.

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

#216

Post by abathur »

ecshafer wrote: post #50
subpixel wrote: post #40

I live in New England. There isn’t a single brewery in any New England state that would cause an uproar if it ceased to sell beer tomorrow. Sure I have some preferred beers but they are all interchangeable in the big picture. Such is progress - there is no more regional taste, only trend. Even the bottle conditioned beer you stand in line for on vacation - a bottle of Duvel will be reliably better and probably cheape…

Sam Adams and and Trillium would both probably cause a bigger uproar than this Anchor Brewing company, which honestly I have never heard of not being in California.

I've seen Anchor Steam in good beer bars and stores on the Gulf coast, East coast, and great lakes. In Houston I have no trouble (until now, I guess) finding one or two of the magnum size Christmas ales to take to holiday parties and have been doing so for several years.

I have never lived in California.

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

#217

Post by abhayb »

barathr wrote: post #172

Some of you may have had the experience of catching a show at Bottom of the Hill and reliving the NOFX song Scavenger Type: Gigin alone at the bottom of the hill / Our protagonist named Bill / Sets his sights on an anchor steam pint / All he needs is thirteen quarters / Congregated in his hat I swear they must have a pipe straight from the brewery for how fresh it is there.

Thanks for that! I'll have to get a pint next time I'm there (for some prog-metal in like two weeks). Concert beer tastes better in glass glasses too heh

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

#218

Post by phillc73 »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #206
phillc73 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brewing high ABV beers is actually quite the challenge, especially once it gets above about 10%. The grain to strike water ratio changes so much that lautering often gets “stuck” due to the thick consistency of the grain bed.

It’s pretty easy to get into the ~15% range with the right yeast (champagne yeast is the best starting point) and attention to sugar conversion (I wish I could remember the details here but I haven’t brewed for about a decade) and importantly for beer, good ventilation. I had a barleywine that should have been in this range ferment for about 12 hours and it clogged the airlock, exploded the carboy, and generally ruin…

It's not so much a problem of the yeast and attenuation. Nottingham should be fine up to 14% and for a high gravity beer somewhere above 75% attenuation.

The issue is yield and lautering. The mash is so thick, or rather there's so much of it, that proceses need to be adjusted to account for that, and from experience yields are much lower in a typical entry level craft brewing system (400L).

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

#219

Post by Tao3300 »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #7
version_five wrote: post #4

I remember getting Anchor Steam in California nearly 20 years ago, having been told about it by a relative as something to try. And having been happy to try a different tasting beer. The other California one I liked was Sierra Nevada pale ale. I feel like that was a much more innocent time. Now no matter where you are, there's a pile of competing craft beers, trying to out do one another across different dimensions (…

> trying to out do one another across different dimensions (though mostly hops) In places with younger craft markets, it's like an even split between hops and extreme naming/label graphics. Here in Seattle, beer names are like Obscure Mythology Reference and you might enjoy the Wikipedia hole it starts you on while you imbibe. The first craft brew I remember seeing visiting my original home state, Virginia, was liter…

Flying Dog's Raging Bitch has a special place in my heart. It was the beer in my fridge many years ago on the day I got laid off. Got to drink that and watch the Women's World Cup instead of being at my awful job.

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

#220

Post by reillyse »

pfranz wrote: post #43
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.

Beer is incredibly difficult to keep shelf-stable. International beers, unless very specific efforts are taken, will taste off. I heard a story that Austrian beer enthusiasts just assumed American beers tasted "skunky" because that's how they tasted after importing them. Time, temperature, and light are enemies. Anheuser-Busch has a dozen breweries across the US. I'm not a fan of hops, but the PNW grows 96% of hops i…

Beer is super easy to make shelf stable. Most of the non craft beer you drink is pasteurized and re-carbonated. Some craft can be bottle conditioned, both I would consider shelf stable.
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