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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

#281

Post by fishtoaster »

Aaronstotle wrote: post #278
MarkMarine wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

At small scales, a rule of thumb is that it's harder to brew beers with lighter/subtler flavors. You can hide a lot of minor brewing mistakes behind an IPA or a heavy stout. Not so much with something like a pilsner.

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

#282

Post by geodel »

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.

Well it could be management didn't meet labor's demand and labor got the brewery closed. So in that sense it could be success.

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

#283

Post by HDThoreaun »

TillE wrote: post #266
HDThoreaun wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really surprising to me how long it took for the seltzers and cocktail in a can stuff to take off. Especially among college age people my informal survey has around 70% of people preferring their flavor yet until like 5 years ago the only fruity beverage widely available was mikes hard lemonade. And not only do most young people prefer the taste, seltzers are much cheaper to make than beer and require much less exper…

Mike's Hard Lemonade fills basically the same ecological niche that cider does in the UK, and does it really well because American-style lemonade is great. Canned cocktails are generally pretty bad, and hard seltzers are fine but does anyone really enjoy the flavor? I feel like they're just a convenient low-calorie way to get drunk.

> I feel like they're just a convenient low-calorie way to get drunk.

Well yea, but for a lot of people that's what beer is too, and when given the choice between light beer and seltzer they prefer the seltzer.

Canned cocktails like cutwater have gotten incredibly popular in the last year or so here. I suspect because they're 15% alcohol and the same size as a beer so many people can just drink one and be good for the night.

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

#284

Post by kelnos »

balderdash wrote: post #277
sfpotter wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I know this is just one example, but public school teacher unions don't seem to be doing so great, seeing how teaching is still the example always brought up as the most tragically underpaid profession.

Sure, a union isn't a magic bullet that fixes all problems, but I know school teachers in some very different districts in the US, and their pay is universally awful for the amount of time they put in, and some of them even end up having to buy their own school supplies, out of pocket, because their classroom is way underfunded. I guess we could argue that, without the unions, things would be even worse, but I still think teachers unions have mostly failed their members.

On the flip side, police officer unions seem to be doing pretty great, negotiating reasonably high pay, and helping to shield their members from accountability for wrongdoing.

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

#285

Post by fishtoaster »

hyperbovine wrote: post #234
munificent wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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…

I think the trend is starting to turn.

I visit the Great American Beer Festival nearly every year, and there was definitely a period where everyone was all-in on relatively extreme beers: ipas, sours, bourbon-barrel aged stouts. Last year, I saw a refreshing trend towards pilsners, lighter lagers, and ambers. I feel like GABF is a bit of a bellweather for these things - west coast craft beer bars will probably take a few years to catch up, but I think we're headed in the right direction.

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

#286

Post by kelnos »

splonk wrote: post #161
bartread wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is an important point but, with that said, I'd suggest that perhaps the reason Anchor were struggling is they didn't really innovate. Rather they rested on the laurels of that 127 year heritage. Certainly a very personal opinion but the first time I tried Anchor beers sometime in the noughties I was underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong: they're certainly better than Bud, Coors, etc., but as a Brit coming fro…

Anchor actually did have a bunch of more modern beers after the Sapporo acquisition, but they were only available at the taproom. They only had retail distribution for the old reliable flagships (and then had a rebranding that was not well received).

Yeah, that was the weird thing. I visited their tap room a few times here and there (I live fairly close), and some of their selections were truly different and interesting and good. But you couldn't get them anywhere else. Meanwhile, I hardly ever go for an Anchor beer when in a bar, as there are always more interesting choices. I wouldn't call myself a beer connoisseur, even. Seemed like shooting themselves in the foot.

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

#287

Post by xp84 »

geodel wrote: post #282
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.

Well it could be management didn't meet labor's demand and labor got the brewery closed. So in that sense it could be success.

20th century labor movement: We want improved working conditions and more jobs to exist, let’s bargain in pursuit of that goal

21st century labor movement: we’d consider it a success to destroy all of the jobs altogether rather than accept less than 100% of our demands (which may or may not be economically feasible).

It sure incentivizes eliminating human labor as fast as possible.

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

#288

Post by kelnos »

stickfigure wrote: post #201
Rapzid wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their Porter is fantastic and on par with Fuller's.

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.

And things are better now! I feel like 10-15 years ago it truly was wall-to-wall IPAs, and if you wanted something else, you had maybe one or two choices. Now at least it seems like the IPA craze has died down a bit, though they're still well over-represented.

I personally don't like IPAs at all, and it's really frustrating. Most of the time I end up going for a cocktail or wine since the beer selection at most bars is still pretty IPA-heavy. I do enjoy that a lot of more beer-focused places stock sours and stouts, both of which I love, but I feel like most bars don't sell them, or much of them.

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

#289

Post by kelnos »

kulshan wrote: post #271
spookthesunset wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I do wonder how much of this phenomenon is just self-reinforcing. Sell a large variety of IPAs, and only a small number of other choices, and sure, people will tend to gravitate toward IPAs. Add on top of that heavy marketing of IPAs over other options, and people will gravitate toward them.

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

#290

Post by kelnos »

spookthesunset wrote: post #269
lockhouse wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you were downvoted. What you say is true! I’m a bit biased, but I’d like to see a few more Porters and Stouts.

Stouts are so good but even in a store with a large beer selection they are hard to find.

At least you can usually find Guinness. Obviously not the best stout in the world, but at least it's consistent and you know what you're gonna get.
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