If you like Anchor Steam beer, buy it now. They are closing their doors...

[Wilmywood]

So sad! The original American craft beer. I used to hang out a bar where one could earn a "passport" by sampling beers from their world beer menu. This was my first foray into trappist beers, true Czech pilsners, Bavarian weissbier, Japanese rice lagers, and so many others. Anchor Steam was the American standout that taught me that there was hope beyond Mickey's Big Mouths, Little Kings, Milwaukie's Best. Apparently, it was downhill once Sapporo bought them. :C(

Years ago when I lived in Pasadena I'd get Anchor Steam at a little boutique liquor store on I believe San Gabriel Blvd in San Gabriel. They had about 200 beers in stock at all times. Forget the name due to CRS ...

 

[Prince of Darkness]

I remember back when I was a student in Cornwall, there was a popular local bottled beer range called Newquay Steam (despite the name it was brewed in Redruth, not Newquay). Apparently the name was inspired by Anchor, though there was no similarity in the beers.

 

[GGJaguar]

Time to find a substitute.

 

[GGJaguar]

Or maybe this one.

 

[Rocky]

Time to find a substitute.

"Just a kiss of hops" = more room for rice and corn = "just a kiss of flavor."

 

[fronobulax]

I remember back when I was a student in Cornwall, there was a popular local bottled beer range called Newquay Steam (despite the name it was brewed in Redruth, not Newquay). Apparently the name was inspired by Anchor, though there was no similarity in the beers.

Under some circumstances people use "steam" to describe a particular process for brewing a beer. I'm not a brewer but I think it has something to do with when and how long and at what temperature the product sits in a tank. When it was explained to me and I wasn't paying the attention I should have been, Anchor Steam was cited as the only American brewer who regularly used the technique. Perhaps Newquay Steam was brewed the same way?

 

[adorshki]

"Just a kiss of hops" = more room for rice and corn = "just a kiss of flavor."

Gotta admit I'm not into hops too much, they're actually a sedative. A brew pub in SantaCruz used to offer "Hoppy Face". One pint would put me to sleep, and not due to the alcohol content.

But whatever happened to the Artesians?

Guess they realized the grunge rockers had grown up. Even if their clothes didn't.

 

[jp]

Are other sources saying that or are you just applying the folk wisdom that says things almost never improve with a change of ownership, especially if the new owner is much bigger?

The Washington Post notes some people weren't happy with the takeover but the reason for closing had more to do with post-Covid changes in where beer was purchased and consumed.

I read a CNN article about it, which also referenced a trade magazine interview with employees giving their reasons for the decline since new management.

Another problem has been Sapporo, the Japanese beer company that bought the brand in 2017. Employees complained to VinePair last month about Sapporo’s alleged mismanagement and lack of understanding of craft beer in the United States. In addition, a 2021 rebrand of Anchor was criticized for pivoting too far away from the brand’s classic look.

I wouldn't doubt, however, that COVID might have had an impact on their demise. Here in Oregon and Portland, where craft brewing has been a strong industry, there have been dozens of casualties for taprooms and microbreweries over the last five years. Bridgeport, Lompoc, Rock Bottom, Burnside, and Portland Brewing to name a few of the larger ones. In this town, everyone knows someone in the brewing business, and people talk a lot about it. It's been a huge disappointment to see some of the older ones go under.

As with the rest of the country, the same is true for the food scene and restaurants.

 

[Boneman]

Yea, going to miss their Xmas ale, oh well.

 

[Brad Little]

There's hope Anchor Steam Workers

 

[chazmo]

There's hope Anchor Steam Workers

Good luck to the guys bidding for it! Good on them if they can make it work!

 

[fronobulax]

There's hope Anchor Steam Workers

From the Washington Post. Basically the same information.

While there is a feel good aspect to the employees stepping up, there are other groups who have expressed interest as well. August 2 is supposedly the date of the liquidation sale. I have to wonder whether Sapporo might try and make lemonade out of this and find a way to steer a sale to a buyer of Sapporo's choice rather than the highest offer on Aug, 2.

 

[chazmo]

I wouldn't venture a guess as to Sapporo's intentions here, but you can be sure they won't sell it to the plant workers if someone else makes a significantly higher bid. It's a little telling that they've only owned the business for 5 years.

I hope the investors will get local support in San Francisco to go forward. It is a feel good story, fro. We'll see. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[tonepoet]

SF is simply a lousy business environment right now even if the industry as a whole wasn't faced with 5%-plus inflationary pressure on virtually every element of its cost structure: Grain, malt, hops, energy, glass bottles and aluminum cans, and even water here in the SF Bay Area.

Then try to find employees willing to commute to a city where one navigates sidewalks with extreme caution and parking garages get $40.00+ a day, because the employees you can afford can't afford to live in SF.

adorshki, I think you are on the money with this comment. I lived in SF between 1979 and 2000. It's a different environment now. My wife and I drove into the city a couple weeks ago after seeing some YouTube vids on how 95% of commercial space in the Embarcadero is vacant and the same with Powell between Market Street and Union Square. We had to see it for ourselves. It's becoming a ghost town, not to mention the tent cities springing up all over town.

Between 2000 and 2009 I did a commute of 52 miles to a job in the city that ate up an average 4 hours of life per day. An average of 1 1/2 hours going to and 2 1/2 hours home going home each evening. You hit all the points and I would add to that list car theft.

And, yep, I did enjoy many an Anchor Steam.

 

[jwsamuel]

SF is simply a lousy business environment right now even if the industry as a whole wasn't faced with 5%-plus inflationary pressure on virtually every element of its cost structure: Grain, malt, hops, energy, glass bottles and aluminum cans, and even water here in the SF Bay Area.

The closing had nothing to do with San Francisco. Anchor was owned by Sapporo in Japan. It was not making enough money for Sapporo so they shut it down.

 

[Westerly Wood]

The closing had nothing to do with San Francisco. Anchor was owned by Sapporo in Japan. It was not making enough money for Sapporo so they shut it down.

not according to what tonepoet just wrote above...while I agree with the Sapporo as being its death-nail, the SF current environment cannot be ignored. SF couldn't have helped the situation...

 

[Rocky]

Sounded like it was a PR thing to get the most for selling it off.

 

[adorshki]

The closing had nothing to do with San Francisco. Anchor was owned by Sapporo in Japan. It was not making enough money for Sapporo so they shut it down.

not according to what tonepoet just wrote above...while I agree with the Sapporo as being its death-nail, the SF current environment cannot be ignored. SF couldn't have helped the situation...

As Frono pointed out, the real problem started in Covid with the restaurant shutdowns, I had no idea Anchor's largest market was pubs/restaurants, worldwide. And so trying to transition into typical liquor store retail was too little too late especially at the time. In the last year the big distillers have also noticed a shift in demand, beer's falling while distilled consumption is rising, and it's thought that at least part of the reason is the rising cost of beer as I originally mentioned.

Besides which SF's a lousy place to work right now, I always said it was about getting employees who're willing to do it, not that SF itself has any specifically "anti-business" policies. But let's face it, many of the city's social policies have created a nightmare for retailers simply trying to survive in a jungle, by killing the tourist industry. And certainly Anchor had a strong local market.

I don't blame Sapporo, they bought Anchor when craft breweries were coming on strong, but Covid killed the dining out industry.

They didn't rape it or part it out. They just want to liquidate and try something else. The projected timeline to return to profitability simply isn't good enough for 'em. It likely will be for somebody else.