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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

#101

Post by dbcooper »

tristor wrote: post #94

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'…

It's an excellent beer of its type, and IMO of any beer type. It may be subtle, but not everything has to be an big hoppy IPA, or a sweet NEIPA etc.

Do you also think that Pilsner Urquell, Jever, or Budvar are mediocre?

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

#102

Post by AnotherGoodName »

dbcooper wrote: post #101
tristor wrote: post #94

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'…

It's an excellent beer of its type, and IMO of any beer type. It may be subtle, but not everything has to be an big hoppy IPA, or a sweet NEIPA etc. Do you also think that Pilsner Urquell, Jever, or Budvar are mediocre?

I agree that it is an excellent beer for it's type but steam beer as a style is dying and for good reason. Very few like that type.

The steam beer process was literally created as a way to cheaply make a lot of beer.

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

#103

Post by RC_ITR »

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…

Also worth noting that Sapporo went through with a rather disastrous rebrand that both made it less unique and harder to find on shelves.

https://sfist.com/2021/01/28/anchor-brewing-dragged-on-twitt...

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

#106

Post by astura »

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…

>the taproom always had customers.

I know the owners of a local craft brewery. When they opened 7 years ago it was ONLY the taproom. Nowadays their money is almost entirely in distribution, taproom is only like 5% of their sales.

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

#107

Post by softwaredoug »

The pandemic has triggered / accelarated a lot of trends

One trend I wonder about is cutting back on drinking. From a health perspective, I see more and more health officials loudly saying no healthy amount of alcohol[1]. It's simply poison.

Not that I'm aggressively for any kind of prohibition, and don't very rarely drink, but I wonder if we'll see increased awareness and more people just deciding not to drink as much anymore.

With this awareness, and the "modest amount of alcohol are actually healthy" claims debunked[2], maybe the hipster / wealthy / yuppy crowd will turn more and more away from the many many microbreweries / wineries that have cropped up in the last few decades.

1 - https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...

Huberman has a great episode too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkS1pkKpILY

2 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/03/31/moderate-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsIdaQhDjwo

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

#110

Post by sfpotter »

softwaredoug wrote: post #107

The pandemic has triggered / accelarated a lot of trends One trend I wonder about is cutting back on drinking. From a health perspective, I see more and more health officials loudly saying no healthy amount of alcohol[1]. It's simply poison. Not that I'm aggressively for any kind of prohibition, and don't very rarely drink, but I wonder if we'll see increased awareness and more people just deciding not to drink as mu…

Didn't the pandemic accelerate drinking, if anything?
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