The New York Times reports that Anchor Brewing Company, which owner Sapporo said it would shut down, may get a lifeline.
Unionized employees at San Francisco-based Anchor, the oldest craft beer brand in the US, "want to buy the 127-year-old company and run it as a co-op to save it from shutting down, a union official said."
According to the story, "employees, who were given 60 daysâ notice and promised severance packages, have proposed a way to keep the beer flowing.
"The workers have 'decided to launch an effort to purchase the brewery and run it as a worker co-op,' according to a proposal letter from the Anchor employees. Pedro de Sá, the business agent at International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6, whose members include workers at Anchor, sent the proposal on Wednesday to Mike Minami, the president of Sapporo USA, which owns the company.
"'All we want is a fair shot at being able to continue to do our jobs, make the beer we love, and keep this historic institution open,' the letter said. 'We do not want the brewery and brand we love to be sold off before we even had a chance'."
All the discussion of IPAs, etc. inspired me to have a Lagunitas with a rye whiskey in the backyard lounge after work yesterday. It was a chilly 94°, thus the little fan.
Location: right behind you. no, over there. Gender:
Posted:
Jul 13, 2023 - 1:36pm
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Yellowstone Beer Fest is next Saturday and last year I went to try to find the best micro-lager summer beer. (Bayern)
This year I was going to compare a bunch of Pale Ales vs IPAs and see if I could come up with a way to tell which is which without reading the label.
But a friend is coming to town that day and we're having dinner. <<grump>>
I missed the Brew Fest here, too. So far, 2023 has been kind of an off year. But, still. Mmmmm...beer.
I'm not sure if they're declining in popularity; some of the hazy IPAs and session IPAs are very popular, as well as the older IPA stand-bys - well, in bars around here anyhow. The Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA (9% ABV) is apparently the largest selling IPA now.
Yellowstone Beer Fest is next Saturday and last year I went to try to find the best micro-lager summer beer. (Bayern)
This year I was going to compare a bunch of Pale Ales vs IPAs and see if I could come up with a way to tell which is which without reading the label.
But a friend is coming to town that day and we're having dinner. <<grump>>
When I drank beer, I would prefer a nice German lager like Paulaner Original over 95% of the craft stuff...which I found too hoppy or malty, usually unbalanced...
New Belgium did a promotion of the new Fat Tire a couple months ago at a Denver place I frequent....fail based on the comments and number of half drunk glasses left behind.
It was more like a "summery" beer, not heavy or hoppy - I haven't tried their new formula. I try/get German beers or domestic "craft" pilsners and lagers pretty often (there's a pretty good one made nearby - Torch Pilsner from Foothills Brewery in Winston-Salem, NC).
Yeah, that's true. Brands like Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, and Wicked Weed seem to be doing okay - at least around here.
I have a friend who is a beer buyer at the local Whole Foods and he has one customer who is frequently looking for German (or German-style) pilsners and lagers, but he has to do custom orders for them. Apparently there is little or no demand for those beers around here, so it's not worth it for him to stock them in the store - they go out of date. Oddly the beers he sells the most of are the high-ABV Voodoo Ranger IPAs from New Belgium, not so much of the New Belgium Fat Tire - which is pretty good. We're in a college town though, so a lot of the people who are buying that are probably students from UNC.
When I drank beer, I would prefer a nice German lager like Paulaner Original over 95% of the craft stuff...which I found too hoppy or malty, usually unbalanced...
New Belgium did a promotion of the new Fat Tire a couple months ago at a Denver place I frequent....fail based on the comments and number of half drunk glasses left behind.
Yeah, that's true. Brands like Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, and Wicked Weed seem to be doing okay - at least around here.
I have a friend who is a beer buyer at the local Whole Foods and he has one customer who is frequently looking for German (or German-style) pilsners and lagers, but he has to do custom orders for them. Apparently there is little or no demand for those beers around here, so it's not worth it for him to stock them in the store - they go out of date. Oddly the beers he sells the most of are the high-ABV Voodoo Ranger IPAs from New Belgium, not so much of the New Belgium Fat Tire - which is pretty good. We're in a college town though, so a lot of the people who are buying that are probably students from UNC.
Higher ABV is why the DIPA / hazy market took off. More bang without a trace of alcohol on the tastebuds.
What I've noticed recently, primarily through a daughter who also pours beer for a micro-brewer friend a few times per month, is that the younger drinkers (starting when they were in HS...but now early to mid-20s) rejected the heavy beer movement of their predecessors (10-15 years ago), and focused on seltzers and then lighter beers. She likes IPAs, but is very happy to settle down with something more along the lines of the pilsners you mentioned.
I'm just happy the sour revolution was short. I enjoy them occasionally but prefer other styles.
A lot of the "early craft brewers" have struggled with catching the wave of changes when the NEIPA explosion took off. It was just so insane, and even some of the early hazy trend beers have either disappeared or been overrun. Grapefruit Sculpin was everywhere for a few years, and then Ballast Point sold out for $1B, and I stopped seeing it at parties and at the beach. There were newer, trendier beers. I watched people follow the Heady Topper truck in Stowe Vermont to buy a 4 pack or 2 at each location (when sales were limited). You can now buy it in Philly. Maine Beer Company used to run a lottery for Dinner. I saw it in Whole Foods last week. Capacity constraints, followed by over-estimated interest, followed by expansion is a dangerous business model, and many breweries have followed that out of the "free money" era and found themselves with debts they can't service.
The places that changed slowly and never chased mass appeal are the ones that are still doing OK.
Yeah, that's true. Brands like Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, and Wicked Weed seem to be doing okay - at least around here.
I have a friend who is a beer buyer at the local Whole Foods and he has one customer who is frequently looking for German (or German-style) pilsners and lagers, but he has to do custom orders for them. Apparently there is little or no demand for those beers around here, so it's not worth it for him to stock them in the store - they go out of date. Oddly the beers he sells the most of are the high-ABV Voodoo Ranger IPAs from New Belgium, not so much of the New Belgium Fat Tire - which is pretty good. We're in a college town though, so a lot of the people who are buying that are probably students from UNC.
I'm not sure if that necessarily will always be the outcome. The vast majority of "craft" or "micro" brew companies are now owned - or at least distributed - by major brewery entities. Most of them have been for quite a while. Anchor had apparently been having money issues off and on for decades. Too bad though, that Liberty Ale was good stuff but I haven't seen it in at least ten years. The local Food Lion does sell the "regular Anchor Steam though - I'll have to pick up some.
A lot of the "early craft brewers" have struggled with catching the wave of changes when the NEIPA explosion took off. It was just so insane, and even some of the early hazy trend beers have either disappeared or been overrun. Grapefruit Sculpin was everywhere for a few years, and then Ballast Point sold out for $1B, and I stopped seeing it at parties and at the beach. There were newer, trendier beers. I watched people follow the Heady Topper truck in Stowe Vermont to buy a 4 pack or 2 at each location (when sales were limited). You can now buy it in Philly. Maine Beer Company used to run a lottery for Dinner. I saw it in Whole Foods last week. Capacity constraints, followed by over-estimated interest, followed by expansion is a dangerous business model, and many breweries have followed that out of the "free money" era and found themselves with debts they can't service.
The places that changed slowly and never chased mass appeal are the ones that are still doing OK.
The article I linked below says that Sapporo wanted to also brew one of their "Japanese" beers there, but that the equipment for the "steam" style didn't allow the stage where they add corn syrup. So they bought Stone in San Diego and my takeaway is that they lost interest in Anchor.
Yeah, I saw that; it seems like a likely scenario. As mentioned somewhere earlier in this thread, Stone was teetering on bankruptcy with all their lawsuits and bizarre expansions.
I'm not sure if that necessarily will always be the outcome. The vast majority of "craft" or "micro" brew companies are now owned - or at least distributed - by major brewery entities. Most of them have been for quite a while. Anchor had apparently been having money issues off and on for decades. Too bad though, that Liberty Ale was good stuff but I haven't seen it in at least ten years. The local Food Lion does sell the "regular Anchor Steam though - I'll have to pick up some.
The article I linked below says that Sapporo wanted to also brew one of their "Japanese" beers there, but that the equipment for the "steam" style didn't allow the stage where they add corn syrup. So they bought Stone in San Diego and my takeaway is that they lost interest in Anchor.
It's what happens when the majors buy up "micro" brews. Trendy is fickle.
I'm not sure if that necessarily will always be the outcome. The vast majority of "craft" or "micro" brew companies are now owned - or at least distributed - by major brewery entities. Most of them have been for quite a while. Anchor had apparently been having money issues off and on for decades. Too bad though, that Liberty Ale was good stuff but I haven't seen it in at least ten years. The local Food Lion does sell the "regular Anchor Steam though - I'll have to pick up some.
It's what happens when the majors buy up "micro" brews. Trendy is fickle.
Tragic. This article gets into the heart of it a little more. Liberty Ale was that beer, before Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, that introduced pale ales to the West Coast anyway. At the time it was inexplicably hoppy and strange. I haven't been able to find it in decadesâapparently they couldn't sell it at all anymore since it's such a tame thing compared to the cranky hazy beasts we get now. I remember moving to Oakland in '82 and a bar in the Temescal district had a gorgeous Liberty Ale neon sign in the window that, when I think of Oakland, that's one of my favorite images. Temescal at night in the rain, SF City lights on the horizon and the rain dripping down the window in front of that sign.
Anyway. Off to the liquor store to buy out the remaining Steam. If I can find any.
Pour one out for Anchor Brewing: Americaâs oldest craft brewer is shutting down after 127 years in business.
It's 1984 and I'm brand new in town, starting some training. A random guy posts that he needs a roommate (and that he likes Genesis and Yes) so we meet up on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland and he orders something I've never heard of, an "Anchor Steam"? We're in training together and friends for many many years until he starts falling off his bike, lacking a sense of balance for some reason. And the reason, the growing brain tumor, kills him shortly thereafter. RIP, Brent. Drinking an Anchor Steam has always reminded me of you.
