The Anchor Brewing Company, one of San Francisco’s most recognizable companies, is closing its doors.
The beloved craft beer brewery pioneer announced Wednesday that after 127 years of existence, it will close its Potrero Hill location, much to the dismay of Craft beer enthusiasts and bartenders everywhere.
This week, some San Franciscans observed that the company’s navy blue flag, which flies over its Mariposa Street headquarters, had been turned upside down, a sign of extreme sadness in most cultures.
Acquired Anchor Brewing
After seeing a decline in sales, Japanese Craft beer juggernaut Sapporo acquired Anchor Brewing in 2017. The company had already endured the devastating earthquake that struck the city in 1906, two world wars, and prohibition. However, the recent economic crisis ultimately proved to be too large for the local brewery established in 1896.
These are challenging economic conditions right now. And Anchor’s demise represents that, according to Sam Singer, a representative for Anchor Brewing, who spoke to ABC News San Francisco station KGO.
According to the corporate statement released on Wednesday, the pandemic-related stringent closures in San Francisco, which prevented 70% of Anchor’s sales in pubs and restaurants, inflation, and a fiercely competitive market forced the company to “make the painful decision to cease operations.”.
Anchor Brewing Co., America’s 1st craft beer brewery, shutting down after 127 years in San Francisco
Distinctive brewing methods like dry hopping
Singer’s statement added, “This was an extraordinarily tough choice that Anchor reached only after many months of rigorous study. The firm claimed this week that employees at Anchor Brewing received severance agreements and 60 days’ notice.
For years, craft beer brewers have hailed Anchor as a leader. According to the company’s history, when Stanford University alumnus Fritz Maytag bought the brewery in the 1960s, he instituted novel procedures and distinctive brewing methods like dry hopping. His first bottled batches sold in 1971 made Anchor a hit with consumers outside of the Northern California market, at a time when many Americans were loyal to larger beer brands.
By the middle of the 1970s, beer connoisseurs all over the country were looking for the brewery’s range of beers, which included the first Christmas Ale as well as Anchor Porter, Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale, and other favourites.
In a blog article for Beervana on Wednesday, well-known beer writer Jeff Alworth said that Maytag had salvaged the brewery and demonstrated “that small breweries could exist outside an ecosystem of commodity canned lagers.”
Served as an illustration of perseverance
Alworth praised Maytag’s capacity to bring back small-scale brewing and provided additional context for how he changed the business to give nascent craft brewing the mentality and attitude beer lovers know and love today.
Anchor was more than just a craft brewery in the way that we used the term. It served as an illustration of perseverance in the face of incredible change and the chance that tiny, eccentric things could survive in a world of hard-edged creative destruction, according to what he wrote.
Even though Anchor Brewing has stopped producing new Craft beer, the company announced this week that it will keep packing and distributing the remaining supply and selling it on draught until the supply runs out.
