Quote:Locals say Anchor beer sale sad but not earth shattering
By Jonathan Kauffman
 
Updated 9:49 am, Friday, August 4, 2017


Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle





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At Anchor Brewing at the Yard there are plans to make beers specific for the Giants and their fans Monday March 16, 2015. The Giants' Yard at Mission Rock bills itself as a pop-up shipping container village ... more

Resignation, rather than outrage, was the dominant tone of the reaction to Thursday morning’s news that San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing has been sold to Japan’s Sapporo Holdings Ltd.
“Wow, one of the first OG (original) craft brewers selling out,” Robby Lucido responded to The Chronicle’s tweet linking to the story. “Can't hate on capitalism but it's a smart move these days.”
Many in the beer industry look to Anchor Brewing as an icon and leader; Fritz Maytag, who purchased the company in 1965, transformed it into the first modern craft brewery in the United States. Several commented that a sale seemed a distinct possibility after Maytag sold it to the Griffin Group, a San Francisco investment firm, in 2010.

San Francisco's Anchor Brewing celebrates 120 years of the Steam
Media: Kev Demirjian
Regan Long, head brewer of Local Brewing Company in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, said she was surprised but not shocked by the announcement. “I’m in this industry every day, and things are changing so rapidly and it’s so competitive. Anchor probably wants to bring their brand to the next level.”

For others, the sale seems like a sign of a changing of the guard, or at least a shift in trendiness.
MORE ON ANCHOR BREWING SA

“If you go to the hip beer bars around the Bay Area, you never see Anchor anywhere,” said Collin McDonnell, co-founder of the Santa Rosa-based HenHouse Brewing. “Likely, the same people who would be annoyed with Anchor selling to Sapporo are the people who would go to those bars where they’re not giving money to Anchor.”

Will Anchor still be considered a local beer if the profits flow to Japan? Trac Le, alcohol buyer for Bi-Rite Market, which showcases local food and beverage producers, said he will continue stocking the shelves with Anchor’s flagship brew “unless the quality of the Anchor Steam goes down.”
“We understand that local people are still working on Anchor,” he added. “We want to support the people who work there.”

(04-02-2017, 12:19 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: I'll mourn the passing of this annual shindig should Tom leave. And that seems inevitable this year.

Quote:Daniel Marx
Celebration of Life
Saturday November 2 2019 6PM
Anchor Brewing Tap Room
San Francisco

Note: The Tap Room is in the actual Brewery, not the Public Taps on the other side of Carolina Street. It is where we used to hold the Rock Med Anchor Brewery Tours.

Please RSVP with Gene Ching because space is limited.

Quote:S.F.’s Anchor Brewing slashes national distribution, cancels cult-favorite beer
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Caleb Pershan
June 10, 2023Updated: June 10, 2023 9:24 p.m.
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Brewer Eric Svendberg operates brewing equipment at Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco. The brewery will cease national distribution, with the beer remaining available only in California.
Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle[img=0x0]https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/20/61/23923782/3/1200x0.jpg[/img]

Anchor Brewing Co. is significantly scaling back its distribution — and canceling Christmas this year.
The San Francisco brewer will halt national distribution of all of its beers, including its signature Anchor Steam Beer. Currently, the beer is available in all 50 states. Going forward, Anchor beers will be available only within California, which represents 70% of its sales, according to a company representative.
Then, this coming holiday season, Anchor won’t be releasing one of its signature offerings: Anchor Christmas Ale, a dark winter warmer made annually since 1975. A small amount, however, will be for sale solely at Anchor Public Taps for visitors to the tasting room. 
An Anchor representative cited “time-intensive and costly brewing and packaging requirements” as the reason for the change. Christmas Ale is unlikely to return next year, the representative said.
Anchor, founded in 1896 and rescued from bankruptcy in 1965 by longtime owner Fritz Maytag, was acquired by Japanese beer giant Sapporo in 2017. Fearing changes, workers of the brewery successfully formed a union in 2019. A representative for Anchor said it has just reached a tentative second contract with that union.
Garrett Kelly, a former brewer at Anchor, said the recent news confirmed concerns he and others voiced after the sale to Sapporo. “The loss of a beer as iconic as the Anchor Christmas Ale, the first American holiday beer post prohibition, is a loss for not only beer nerds like me, but anyone with an interest in preserving culture against the grinding pressure of corporate Darwinism,” Kelly wrote to The Chronicle.
Anchor typically begins brewing Christmas Ale in June at its Potrero Hill production facility, where it has operated since 1979. The beer arrives on shelves nationally each November. Christmas Ale is known for its annually changing combination of spices — last year’s version was advertised as offering “notes of orange, honeysuckle, toasted malts and eucalyptus” — and a changing, hand-drawn label of a tree to match. That was designed by artist Jim Stitt for decades until his retirement in 2019. Anchor redesigned all of its labels in 2021.
After a period of strong growth, the craft beer business has recently faced stagnation and consolidation. Locally, Drake’s Brewing Co. of San Leandro acquired Bear Republic of Cloverdale, and San Francisco’s Speakeasy Ales & Lagers was acquired by Fresno’s Full Circle Brewing. Beer sales were down about 3% by volume last year, according to the National Brewers Association, with craft beer sales about even. Because  it’s not independently owned, Anchor doesn’t meet the association’s definition of a craft brewery.