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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

#271

Post by kulshan »

spookthesunset wrote: post #206
stickfigure wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love porters but they're getting hard to find. Every supermarket is wall-to-wall IPAs. I assume they know what sells, so apparently that's what the market wants right now. You can't make a living brewing porters. I would be a lot more disappointed with this turn of events if I had access to their porter. But the ubiquitous steam beer was never one of my favorites.

Totally agree. The craft beer industry needs to stop with all this IPA nonsense. It’s absurd how hard it is to find anything but yet another weird IPA. If the craft beer industry is shrinking, this is one large component. Stop with the nonstop IPA’s. There is way more beers than just IPA’s.

I work at a craft beer bar, in general folks want live fresh beer...I pour 1 stout for every 50 Ipas I pour. We have the option but folks love their pale ales and ipas. Anchor would just go bad on our rotation...a freshly brewed pilsner, i'll sell a bunch. A blaise steam beer that isn't "fresh" isn't winning any body over. That said I'm a big fan of anchor porter, the general public is not.

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

#272

Post by basementdev »

WatchDog wrote: post #179
sfpotter wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little surprised Anchor didn't do better. I personally got worn out by all the craziness and experimentation in the craft brewing scene. Really unique IPAs or sour beers were fun for a while, but after a while, I realized I just wanted something reasonably good and predictably normal, i.e. a Normal Good Beer. It seemed like Anchor was delivering on this, but maybe there were enough other options that they just…

> Too bad, considering they're a local beer with a lot of history and had a successful unionization effort. 127 year old company, unionizes in 2019, shuts down in 2023, I wouldn't really call that successful.

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

#273

Post by xgl5k »

ribyni wrote: post #41
farzinadil wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those people are delusional. They should see how the doom loop worked out for detroit.

San Francisco has been a boom and bust town since the beginning, with countless "doom loop" stories. The reality is that it's a desirable city. If we're in a true bust, prices will begin to drop--and those places are quickly filled up with people who can now afford to live here (again). We're not witnessing a drop in demand per se, we're witnessing a decreased demand at the high-end (this is a good thing! it's run ou…

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

#274

Post by xgl5k »

asdajksah2123 wrote: post #36
farzinadil wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those people are delusional. They should see how the doom loop worked out for detroit.

While I think the people who think this is a good thing are out of their minds, Detroit had entirely different issues, and probably is not a good example for what could happen to SF in the worst case. 1. Detroit has none of the natural advantages SF does. 2. Detroit was hollowed out largely because of the white flight that drove the tax base to the suburbs. 3. Detroit was uniquely built as a highly car friendly city,…

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

#275

Post by sterwill »

ChainOfFools wrote: post #175
codyb wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've certainly been moving back towards lighter beers... those IPAs are too strong. You think 5% to 6% isn't a big deal cause it seems so small, but it's a 20% increase in alcohol content. 5% - 7% is a 40% increase! If you're drinking pints, it's like adding half a shot to every beer you drink. It adds up quick.

I'm a little concerned about the phenomenon I've noticed on the shelves lately which is that every brand seems to be first, putting the ABV content in larger and larger font and a more prominent position on the label with each new offering, and that they are now starting to clock in at doppel and trippel and barley wine levels of alcohol on a regular basis. The number of casual drinking beers that have hit 10% or eve…

I like having the ABV in big print so I can avoid the super high ones. It's a bonus for me!

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

#276

Post by rhaway84773 »

munificent wrote: post #225
necubi wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trend isn't away from drinking, it's away from beer. Seltzers and other malt-based drinks have had huge growth in the past few years, mostly at the expense of beer sales, and liquor sales are up as well. Slate's been doing a great series over the past week about these trends if you're interested: https://slate.com/tag/beer-package .

I wonder how much of this is the beer industry eating its own seedcorn by focusing more and more on super bitter IPAs that beer snobs love at the expense of more middle of the road palatable beers. The long term consequence of that plus beer snobbery looking down on light beers is that younger drinkers with sweeter palates just don't drink beer at all because the beer that is socially acceptable is too bitter for the…

I’m an IPA fan and if I wasn’t drinking dirt cheap beer to get wasted in college I’d opt for an IPA.

But sometime in the early to mid 2010s, IPAs became so strong as to become basically undrinkable.

But this trend of IPAs didn’t just turn me off the IPAs. They turned me off beer completely.

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

#277

Post by balderdash »

sfpotter wrote: post #262
WatchDog wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Too bad, considering they're a local beer with a lot of history and had a successful unionization effort. 127 year old company, unionizes in 2019, shuts down in 2023, I wouldn't really call that successful.

Unions in the US are on the ropes. Union membership is down, and companies have loads of resources and help to stymie unionization efforts. Frankly, unionizing at all is a successful unionization effort at the moment, since it shows other people it can be done. Can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

It’s on the ropes in corporate America - but not in the public sector.

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

#278

Post by Aaronstotle »

MarkMarine wrote: post #189
sfpotter wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little surprised Anchor didn't do better. I personally got worn out by all the craziness and experimentation in the craft brewing scene. Really unique IPAs or sour beers were fun for a while, but after a while, I realized I just wanted something reasonably good and predictably normal, i.e. a Normal Good Beer. It seemed like Anchor was delivering on this, but maybe there were enough other options that they just…

This seems to be a conclusion in the beverage world as well, the craft beer wave has broken and people are just trying to drink something that tastes like what it says on the label. I home brew beer and the instinct is to make something crazy, but I get sick of my own experiments and double sick of paying 18$ for a 4 pack of someone else’s experiments. I could never stand being told that hop burn was a sign of craft…

I just bought a random craft beer 4 pack that cost me $17 the other day, reminds me why I don't buy craft beer.

Is it hard to home brew something like a Pilsner? I imagine the hard part is consistency

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

#279

Post by HWR_14 »

GenerWork wrote: post #247
nunez wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pandemic definitely triggered an uptick in "healthier" drinking options, specifically non-alcoholic beers (that are actually good now, hard kombucha and seltzers (that are usually just as alcoholic as beer but have fewer carbs so they are "healthy"). Athletic Brewing Company out of Stamford, CT has grown like gangbusters because of it (and because their beer is legitimately good). Even the big commercial brewerie…

Bud Light 0.0 was the only beer you could buy at the World Cup because Qatar has super strict alcohol laws.

Because Qatar has super strict alcohol laws and Bud has an exclusive sponsorship deal with the World Cup. So Bud Light 0.0 is the only intersection of those two requirements.

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

#280

Post by MikeTheRocker »

lockhouse wrote: post #270
hyperbovine wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really despise this about the American beer industry. Your typical tap list these days is 8 IPAs, 1-2 dIPAs, 4 sours, something that contains coffee, some other weird shit (cucumber göse e.g.), and like one normal everyday lager or pilsener that isn't making some sort of personality statement and pairs well with food. Worse, this appears to be catching on among trendier bars in Europe, even in places like Munich an…

We need more Porters and Stouts! You’re lucky if you can even order a can of Guinness most places.

San Francisco is in desperate need of this. The only dark beer I typically see at restaurants here is Old Rasputin.
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