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SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

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Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#91

Post by hooverd »

flyinghamster wrote: post #74
wl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Famously saved in a way that kicked off the American craft brewing movement. Fritz Maytag brought a modern microbiological perspective to American brewing, reintroduced dormant American styles, validated that there was a market for such beers, and deliberately helped other breweries brew great beer rather than expanding faster than he felt comfortable to meet demand. It was a viable business when Maytag decided to re…

And I think the economy has a great effect. Craft beer is expensive , and when everything else has doubled in price, it becomes a luxury. Between that and competing for shelf space when the oligopoly has crammed the shelves with faux "craft" beers, I'm expecting a shakeout in the craft brew business - a local brewery closed up at the end of May with about a week of warning and no reason why, even though the taproom a…

Some* craft beer is expensive. My extremely non-scientific survey found that Anchor Steam is roughly the same price as Shiner, or Boulevard Wheat, and only a couple dollars more than a six pack of Budweiser. It's no Founder's KBS prices, but that beer fills a different niche anyways.

The craft brewers that are all making the same N-times-hopped IPAs might die off, and for the better.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#92

Post by stagger87 »

TravelPiglet wrote: post #79
eweise wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can Anchor be considered a craft brewer if its owned by Saporro?

https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/craft...

By this definition, it is not "craft" anymore.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#93

Post by astura »

maxiepoo wrote: post #4

I'll be surprised if none of the bigger beer companies ends up buying it for the brand and history alone. But maybe it doesn't have as much name recognition as I thought.

They are already owned by a big company - Sapporo.

I've heard that Sapporo has been trying to sell it for couple years now. Nobody's buying.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#94

Post by tristor »

This doesn't surprise me. As somebody who got deep into craft beer, I have always thought of Anchor Steam as being relatively mediocre. They were likely a breath of fresh air well until the 1980s, but my the early 1990s there was a burgeoning US craft brewing revival that had a solid brewery (and in most cases better than Anchor) in every US state. They also aren't the only old craft brewery in the US, generally.

It's unfortunate, but operating in one of the most expensive places in the US isn't something that's compatible with being mediocre in a highly competitive market.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#95

Post by last_responder »

krustyburger wrote: post #21

It’s important to note that Anchor as a division is being shut down as a cost-saving measure by its owner Sapporo, a transnational, publicly-traded corporation. Sapporo says they have tried to find a buyer for Anchor, but to no avail. Meanwhile Sapporo recently purchased Stone Brewing in San Diego and are beginning Sapporo production there while still making Stone beers. If Sapporo hadn’t also bought Stone, presumabl…

Well Stone is now off the buy list.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#98

Post by astura »

sparrish wrote: post #34

Honest question: how did this SF brewing company survive prohibition? If it really is 127 years old, it must have existed during prohibition. How was it not shut down then? I'm curious.

Some breweries pivoted to selling near-beer and other NA beverages or foods during Prohibition, or just closed for those years and restarted afterwards.

Yuengling famously sold ice cream during Prohibition, and apparently still makes it in small batches.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#99

Post by helios_invictus »

Anchor and Fritz Maytag were a real inspirations to a lot of early craft to microbrewery people. I've known a number of people who can say that the revitiliztion of Anchor was one of the reasons they started breweries..and their influence has influenced others.

Re: SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

#100

Post by AnotherGoodName »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #16

A shame they weren’t able to adapt to modern beer tastes. As long as I can remember, I've thought of them as the mediocre beer I’ll begrudgingly drink only if all other options are exhausted.

Part of the problem is that the steam beer process they used is a cheap and nasty process by design and they were one of the last holdouts of that style. I did a tour of their brewery where they do the open air fermenting (hence the name, steam came off it). It's a way to save refrigeration costs in brewing and makes for a poor beer.

If they adapted to modern tastes they wouldn't really be steam beer anymore. They'd be another beer brewed the same way as the others. At which point you're calling non steam beer steam beer.

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