Go Get Your Anchor! True Beer Stories

[HolySteel]

Anchor announced last week that they were stopping National distribution, then gave up completely and announced yesterday that they are liquidating. I found out when I went to my local grocery to pick up a 6-pack of Anchor Porter. I immediately headed to my beer store to grab what I could find; however, I missed my exit and found myself next to the mall. At that point I went into another liquor store and found two 6-packs of Steam and two of Porter. As I was walking away with my prizes, a guy asked me where I had found the beer. I told him that was the last they had and we had a small beer discussion, him turning down a free beer :). The check-out guy suggested that I buy some lottery tickets.

I finally made it to my regular beer store, and there was a sign on the door saying "Closed Temporarily Due to Technical Problems." Weird.

So if I hadn't missed my exit, I would have no beer. Proof that proper planning and execution can be a waste of time.

[Naperville]

I recognize the name. Not sure if I ever had any and I even lived in the Bay Area for 3 years(00-03).

After all of these marketing debacles by Anheuser-Busch InBev, Target, Levis, ... I decided to shop locally for beer and pay attention to where I spend what little money that I have. I found Noon Whistle Brewery. It is brewed in two places, my town and where I used to go for morning bicycle rides with a racing team back in the early 80's.

The best beer that they make (to me anyway) is Gummisky IPA. We don't drink much around here but I bet we have had at least a cases worth of beer since the year started.

[TkoK83Spy]

[benben]

Used to go wayyy out of my way to find their Christmas release beer for my neighbor and his annual neighborhood Christmas party!

He’s definitely the one who turned me onto Anchor Steam!

[RustyIron]

Anchor announced last week that they were stopping National distribution, then gave up completely and announced yesterday that they are liquidating.

Kinda sad. Fritz Maytag is like the granddaddy of modern Craft Brewing. If not for him, we might all be drinking Coors and Budweiser today. In my opinion, they didn't really keep up with the expectations people have for a West Coast style ale. The style evolved, Anchor didn't.

While reading the article and doing a little web browsing, I learned that Sapporo purchased Anchor six years ago. It seems odd that they threw down the cash, but didn't make the changes necessary to keep the brand afloat. I was mortified to learn that Sapporo also purchased Stone last year. Stone is my go-to brand. When you come here, you'll be served Stone... unless you're elderly or infirm, in which case I'll mix you up a Shirley Temple. Anyway, this might explain why Stone as deviated from their avante-garde brewing practices, and have been pumping out their "hazy" and "delicious" light beers with more mass-appeal.

[HolySteel]

Area liquor store had ten or so Christmas magnums in April, so I’ve got one saved for this Christmas.

[benben]

Area liquor store had ten or so Christmas magnums in April, so I’ve got one saved for this Christmas.

I thought it was....good, or okay. It can't touch Sierra Nevada's annual Christmas release! If it requires a store to store chase, it had better be very good!

[HolySteel]

Area liquor store had ten or so Christmas magnums in April, so I’ve got one saved for this Christmas.

I thought it was....good, or okay. It can't touch Sierra Nevada's annual Christmas release! If it requires a store to store chase, it had better be very good!

We don't get the Sierra Nevada Christmas here. The Anchor Christmas is (was) different every year. Sometimes it was almost like a Porter with Juniper. But it's gone now, so ... crap.

[Halfneck]

Used to love their Christmas Beer & go out of my way to get it years ago. Then there was a million & one different craft beers & it was beer overload. In reading about the closure it seems odd Sapporo bought them out, then basically did nothing to try & stay competitive.

[TomAiello]

So sad. Anchor Steam was one of the classics I remember from my misspent youth.

[ChrisinHove]

This even made the U.K. news.

My favourite local brewery was shut down in January. It was bought out by one brewer, who was bought out by A****. They made 50 of the 60 employees redundant last summer, then closed the brewery because it was “underutilised”, keeping the best beer names to be mass produced elsewhere.

[RustyIron]

Times change, brewers change, ownership changes. But our thirst for good beer continues.

I used to be a huge fan of Ballast Point. Those boys, in the space of 20 years, built a $1 Billion dollar company. After they sold to Constellation, the quality went from "breathtaking" to "good beer." After four years of Constellation screwing the pooch, they dumped the company at an 87% loss.

I should really give the new Ballast Point a try, but their market penetration is substantially curtailed, so it's not like you can find it on every shelf. I'll try harder.

Now that I'm thinking about this, these stories are no different than that of Pierre Celis. The dude singlehandedly resucitated the "wit" style. When he came to America, he started a successful brewery with coast-to-coast distribution. He sold out to Miller, and they closed the doors a year later.

The moral of the story is that successful microbreweries with passionate employees might not be scalable into macrobreweries, no matter how much funding is available.

[HolySteel]

Times change, brewers change, ownership changes. But our thirst for good beer continues.

I used to be a huge fan of Ballast Point. Those boys, in the space of 20 years, built a $1 Billion dollar company. After they sold to Constellation, the quality went from "breathtaking" to "good beer." After four years of Constellation screwing the pooch, they dumped the company at an 87% loss.

I should really give the new Ballast Point a try, but their market penetration is substantially curtailed, so it's not like you can find it on every shelf. I'll try harder.

Now that I'm thinking about this, these stories are no different than that of Pierre Celis. The dude singlehandedly resucitated the "wit" style. When he came to America, he started a successful brewery with coast-to-coast distribution. He sold out to Miller, and they closed the doors a year later.

The moral of the story is that successful microbreweries with passionate employees might not be scalable into macrobreweries, no matter how much funding is available

Same here - 'Victory at Sea' was one of my favorites.

Regarding Anchor, our local Bevmo was closed due to 'no internet' the day I was out looking. Stopped by the next afternoon and was able to score five 6-packs of Porter. When I was checking out someone was asking the manager where the Anchor was. I've been very lucky, but of course, beer only lasts so long and there will be no more unless another brewer steps up

[kennethsime]

Maybe if Anchor had innovated, instead of resting on their laurels, they’d still be going strong?

You’ve got to be crazy to run a brewery in California these days without making a really good hazy ipa.

[HolySteel]

Maybe if Anchor had innovated, instead of resting on their laurels, they’d still be going strong?

You’ve got to be crazy to run a brewery in California these days without making a really good hazy ipa.

I don't follow all the ins and outs of starting/running breweries, but it's clear that there's no room in the U.S. for breweries that cater only to non-IPA drinkers, other than the Budweiser/Pabst quality sort. I realize it's personal taste, and that many here disagree, but I never drank an Anchor product I didn't love. Some, like their long-gone seasonal Bock, were really spectacular (yeah, just to me and a few others ). Oh yeah, 'Flying Cloud Stout' from back in the days before craft brews became popular, focusing on deadening everyone's taste buds with hops, the high-end breweries such as Sierra Nevada, Anchor and a few others, ALL had at least one high quality Porter and high-quality Stout. Remember Bert Grant's 'Perfect Porter'? (I didn't much like it). He once came to our local pub to push his book - God rest his soul, but what an a-hole.

[cabfrank]

Makes me sad. Celis too. I've been to both breweries. It's IPA or bust these days in a lot of places.

[twinboysdad]

Maybe if Anchor had innovated, instead of resting on their laurels, they’d still be going strong?

You’ve got to be crazy to run a brewery in California these days without making a really good hazy ipa.

That and the juicy IPA’s. I am not an IPA afi but living in Alabama we have Straight To Ale Brewing who makes Monkeynaught IPA at 8% ABV and is the very best I’ve had. Jai Lai IPA is the worst I have had. Drank 3 night before my son’s wrestling tournament and literally tasted hops the entire day. Couldn’t get it out of my mouth

[cabfrank]

Hazy and Juicy are kind of the same, or at least used interchangeably. There are so many here in Northern CA now that it is mind boggling.

[remnar]

I was mortified to learn that Sapporo also purchased Stone last year. Stone is my go-to brand. When you come here, you'll be served Stone... this might explain why Stone as deviated from their avante-garde brewing practices, and have been pumping out their "hazy" and "delicious" light beers with more mass-appeal.

I have been wondering what was going on with Stone. They have been my go-to brand for years also but I haven't seen any on the shelf at my local grocery store for months.

[TkoK83Spy]

Interesting, over here in New York at the local Wegmans we have all kinds of Stone beers. Various mixed packs, the standard, the "Delicious" mixed packs as well. Almost grabbed one of those yesterday but went with a Lagunitas mixed pack instead