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Anchor Brewing Company ends national distribution, kills Christmas Ale
- NotYourLawyer 3y agoWell, it was this or hire a transgender spokesperson.
- mikece 3y agoToo costly to produce, too much competition, insufficient demand outside California. A loss for sure but with so much competition I doubt it will be missed by many.
- ProjectArcturis 3y ago20 years ago, Anchor was pretty decent. Like Sam Adams, there wasn't a lot of competition for US-brewed beer beyond the Bud-style macrobrews. Now there's a dozen good-to-great breweries in every city, and no reason to buy Anchor Steam anymore.
- eyelidlessness 3y agoI disagree, despite living in one of the earlier craft brew havens (Seattle). Anchor Steam was already a unique offering when I happened on it ~15 years ago, and its uniqueness has only been more pronounced as the craft(ish) market has consolidated around IPAs. Anchor Porter isn’t nearly so unique a style, but it’s an exceptional one in the category and has consistently been my preference over local porters even when they were more common. Their winter seasonal really is stellar, and has long stood out in a category that’s basically become a mix of mislabeled IPAs and the occasional barleywine-ish heavy ale.
- Kon-Peki 3y agoNot passing judgement on the quality of Anchor Steam. But the OP is absolutely right - there are now good to great breweries pretty much everywhere in the US. It’s hard to be a national beer company if you aren’t humongous. People aren’t even looking at your stuff. The beer section at the gas station near my house is 50% local and 50% watery stuff. I have no idea if they carry Anchor Steam or not because I don’t look in that section and haven’t for years. Note that some breweries, like Lagunitas, have effectively become local in multiple places by opening breweries in other states far away.
- eyelidlessness 3y agoYeah I do agree that being a national craft brewery is tough, and I don’t begrudge Anchor leaving the national market. I don’t even begrudge Elysian entering it by selling to AB (though lots of folks here do). My disagreement is only with “no reason” to buy Anchor. There’s a glut of high quality beer on the market, but very little of it is a reasonable substitute for what Anchor brews, and I have gone out of my way when it might be stocked, even though I know that I’m an outlier in even my own competitive local market.
- version_five 3y agoI remember getting Anchor Steam in California nearly 20 years ago, having been told about it by a relative as something to try. And having been happy to try a different tasting beer. The other California one I liked was Sierra Nevada pale ale. I feel like that was a much more innocent time. Now no matter where you are, there's a pile of competing craft beers, trying to out do one another across different dimensions (though mostly hops), it's hard to keep track. At the same time, good beer seems to mean a lot less now, because of how spoiled we all are.
- eyelidlessness 3y ago> trying to out do one another across different dimensions (though mostly hops) In places with younger craft markets, it's like an even split between hops and extreme naming/label graphics. Here in Seattle, beer names are like Obscure Mythology Reference and you might enjoy the Wikipedia hole it starts you on while you imbibe. The first craft brew I remember seeing visiting my original home state, Virginia, was literally named Raging Bitch with a fierce looking dog baring its teeth and blood-like splatters of red ink. It was actually a pretty decent stout IIRC.
- pjm331 3y agoRaging Bitch is made by Flying Dog brewery whose art is done by Ralph Steadman - well known for his collaborations with Hunter S Thompson. I started drinking it because of that fact after reading Fear and Loathing for the first time in college. It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc
- eyelidlessness 3y agoAh, I had no idea about the artist! It came to mind because it’s pretty representative of the general theme I noticed, but also because the art was definitely striking in its own right.
- girvo 3y ago> It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc As all good stouts should be, in my humble opinion! My all time favourite beer is the BrewDog, Nogne and Mikkeller collaboration stout: the Black Tokyo Horizon. It's 17.2%!
- 0zemp3c 3y agoLiberty Ale is a true classic of brewing, but you can find something like it in any city now Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is another classic and you can find it practically anywhere
- coffeebeqn 3y agoI have the hardest time finding Liberty ale in the US. Used to love it in Europe as one of the first craft beers along with Sierra Nevada. I still think both stand as real classics. If I had to just drink one beer for the rest of my life it’d be that. Sometimes I just want a good beer without grappling with wild yeasts and exotic hops and wills abvs.
- elephanlemon 3y agoBummer, they were one of few breweries with an interesting Christmas ale.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- CSMastermind 3y agoWhen I was growing up Great Lakes had the best Christmas ale around but then they scaled up production and it hasn't been the same for a decade now. I was told the head brewer left to Thirsty Dog and took the recipe with them but while closer that still doesn't taste quite the same to me either.
- Zizizizz 3y agoAgreed, their Christmas Ale was great. My other favourite is Stone's https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/special-releases/stone-xocoveza#ageGatePassed https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/special-releases/stone-xoc...
- johnea 3y agoSeems like it's still available in California. So, 1/8 of the US population will still be able to buy it. That's not exactly "killing it"...
- jffry 3y agoI think the "kills beloved beer" in the headline refers to the fifth paragraph of the article which says: "Anchor Brewing will no longer make its iconic holiday beer, Christmas Ale."
- pkulak 3y agoPersonally, I have so many great, local breweries, I never think to get anything from out of state, usually not even out-of-city. This sounds like a reasonable move seeing the proliferation of great beers.
- rationalist 3y ago> I have so many great, local breweries My city has a lot, but I personally can't share in them. I will instantly vomit if I drink any local brews (in any locale). Same with whiskey. I can drink nationally-distributed beers and vodka with no ill-effects. I have no idea why. I'm jumping on this comment because I imagine there are some HN readers that might have a theory and I would be very interested in hearing them.
- 0xB31B1B 3y agoI hate local beers. Local wine makes sense, there is terroir, a sense of place etc. Local beers are just some weird competition to see who can make the hopiest bitterest beer. I don't want to try a new lager every time I cross county lines, when I want beer I want something reliable.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoFunny. I actually want to have a different beer every single time I get one to drink.
- girvo 3y agoI'm the same, but that's partially a function of how rarely I drink these days.
- dfjklseldklk 3y agoI agree the style of beers made "locally" is weird, but the justification for local beer, on keg at least, is that it does seem hard to transport them successfully. In the UK beers do taste best on tap when you're within about 50 miles of the brewery. I'm sure they could be transported further safely, but in practice them almost never are.
- helios_invictus 3y agoAnchor was one of the leaders (in a lot of ways) in the craft brew industry.
- TylerE 3y agoThe article buried the lede. "Anchor, founded in 1896, was saved from bankruptcy in 1965 by longtime owner Fritz Maytag, and _sold to Sapporo in 2017_, Singer said." It ceased to be an independent local brewer almost a decade ago. The corporate overlords are doing what corporate overlords always do.
- ApolloFortyNine 3y ago> The corporate overlords are doing what corporate overlords always do. Killing what doesn't make money? If this was profitable what exactly are the 'corporate overlords' achieving here?
- PhasmaFelis 3y agoKilling what doesn't make enough money. To a corporation, a product line that sells reliably and consistently year after year is a failure unless it can be turned into something that pushes the stock price ever upward.
- kodt 3y agoI think craft beer fans would argue that their Christmas Ale is iconic and provides much of their respect as a brand and that discontinuing just pushes the brand further into irrelevancy. Pulling back to California makes sense of sales aren’t strong enough, but also killing off a beloved brand seems that it could hurt in the long run.
- ryandrake 3y agoWhenever I see "Christmas Ale" I can't help but remember Denis Leary's standup bit about beer, particularly the part about Christmas beer[1]. 1: https://youtu.be/YgBvdPH8TZw?t=75 https://youtu.be/YgBvdPH8TZw?t=75
- olivermarks 3y agoI know quite a bit about Anchor, who used to be an SF institution. After the new Giants baseball park was built in 2000 Anchor as an independent local company were going to build an additional brewery there in 2013. https://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Anchor-Brewing-plant-on-S-F-waterfront-4288394.php https://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Anchor-Br... Sadly this never came to fruition due to the big beer bust a few years later. Lagunitas sold out to Heineken, Anchor to Sapporo etc - there was a big drop off in sales due to all the endless 6 month lifespan craft IPAs that split the market (many of these went bust too). Lagunitas and Anchor are now a shadow of their former selves after cost cutting etc. Keith Greggor's innovations when he was running Anchor are now a distant memory. The recent mediocre rebranding of Anchor is an indicator of how out of touch Sapporo are with the market.
- x3n0ph3n3 3y agoBack in college, my friends and I got a pony keg of the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ale -- probably our biggest beer mistake. We had to force ourselves to finish it and punished each other with beer pong just to empty the damn thing. I don't think I could ever touch that beer again.
- s1mon 3y agoTheir Christmas ale is different every year. I coincidentally just went on the tour of the Anchor Brewery last weekend. They already had a preview of what this year's Christmas ale will be, but they only sample it there.
- flyinghamster 3y agoSometimes a brewer realizes that concentrating on their core market makes more sense than trying to compete on crowded store shelves nationwide. New Glarus Brewing in Wisconsin is famous for refusing to distribute out-of-state. It's always worth taking a case home if I take a roadtrip.
- sheepybloke 3y ago100%! My uncle lives in Wisconsin, and all I ask for Christmas from them is their homemade fudge and a pack of New Glarus. Always an amazing gift!
- BeFlatXIII 3y agoWhenever I travel to Wisconsin, I always return with a large purchase of New Glarus to share with family & friends.
- vidanay 3y agoOld timers like me remember when you couldn't buy Coors east of Kansas City.
- thegaulofthem 3y agoSimilarly, I remember the Snowbirds and Carpetbaggers excitement over the Yuengling brewery in Florida. Folks bringing cases home on trips. Something about those old times regional beers with “no taste” fascinates me as much if not more than all the craft ones. Like drinking a time capsule being able to relate with someone from an oddly specific time and place.
- watersb 3y agoI have fond memories of Anchor Steam from late 80s - 1990s Bay Area life. Was the standard beer of startup picnics.
- subpixel 3y agoI live in New England. There isn’t a single brewery in any New England state that would cause an uproar if it ceased to sell beer tomorrow. Sure I have some preferred beers but they are all interchangeable in the big picture. Such is progress - there is no more regional taste, only trend. Even the bottle conditioned beer you stand in line for on vacation - a bottle of Duvel will be reliably better and probably cheaper.
- ecshafer 3y agoSam Adams and and Trillium would both probably cause a bigger uproar than this Anchor Brewing company, which honestly I have never heard of not being in California.
- Blinco 3y agoAgree with you on those two. Not really the same vein but I'd throw Narragansett in as well
- jghn 3y agoI’m from the same area as you so geography isn’t the issue. They’re pretty notable, arguably they started the craft beer movement
- Dalewyn 3y agoI always chuckle at the idea of calling Sam Adams "craft" beer, but I guess they do check all the boxes for it.
- bamfly 3y agoAll their beers taste like one beer with some kind of flavor packets added to them to get the different varieties. I don't know if that's what they do—surely it's not?—but damn is it ever what it tastes like. I've never encountered another brewery that gives me that vibe.
- ryandamm 3y agoI read an article in a craft brewing mag (might’ve been “Celebrator” circa 2003) that pointed out how the craft brewers association kept revising upward the number of barrels/year production that still qualified as “craft” so that it continued to accommodate Sam Adams.
- jrflowers 3y agoI don’t know anyone that loved the Christmas ale. It was fine if you were already drunk, which I suppose makes sense for Christmas though.
- wincy 3y agoIt’s weird that there’s a whole culture around all these craft beers that seems interesting to me but every time I drink anything labeled beer or ale or whatever it is, I feel hot and am basically overcome with a berserker rage (I don’t know how else to explain it, I get really agitated and feel like I’m in flight or fight and want to fight, and it’s like my brain is on fire) within minutes of drinking any sort of beer. The next day I’ll often have a sort of tremor for hours in the morning and minor neurological issues where I have a hard time lifting a glass of water to drink and sober up. Ciders and liquors don’t cause this issue. I tried a gluten free beer at the insistence of coworkers and a similar thing happened. It just makes me hulk out. Anyone have any idea why? I figure I’ve got to be allergic to something but I don’t really have any idea what that something might be.
- plasticchris 3y agoSounds like something in the hops
- pnpnp 3y agoIt could be a food allergy. I would consult someone who specializes in this area.
- tantalor 3y agoAre you okay with alcohol in general? What about wheat or barley?
- nwiswell 3y agoIf it's because of the hops, you will probably have less of a reaction if you drink a sour beer, which typically have a lot less hops. You could give that a try as a partition test. You might be able to find a Lambic or Gose at the supermarket, they're reasonably commonplace. The Gruit style contains no hops at all, but it's uncommon.
- insaneirish 3y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5j4DIellR4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5j4DIellR4
- dilap 3y agoThey did an ungodly-bad rebrand and suddenly just looked like every other beer.
- Sivart13 3y agoCounterpoint, I'd wager they were already on a downward trajectory which is what drove both the sale to Sapporo and the rebrand. The alternative to the rebrand might not have been sticking with the existing style forever, but shutting the place down.
- dilap 3y agoMight not take the other side of that...
- fullshark 3y agoGordon Biersch did the same thing. They just got destroyed probably by the craft beer wave and got advice to follow the trend I guess.
- kaycebasques 3y agoI took the Christmas Ale tour last year. Little did I know it may be the last! The tour guide made a verrrrrrry interesting and unexpected comment about the rebrand. He said that it was part of the sale contract. I.e. the old owner put it in the contract that they had to rebrand. I am 90% sure I heard that correctly and am not making it up, because it was so strange and unexpected on my ears.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago>sold to Sapporo in 2017 Ah, I was wondering where the pressure was coming from. The idea that this 150 year old brewery is closing down a truly cornerstone beer in craft beer history because the label art is expensive - despite weathering untold recessions and tough periods - strains credulity
- iJohnDoe 3y agoMy key takeaway as well. The moment I read that line I knew it was just corporate budgeting. EBIDA strikes again. They purchased the company because they were successful and will then proceed to kill the company by doing the exact opposite things that made them successful.
- libraryatnight 3y agoI hate this trend. Because successful as a business that sustains itself and success as part of a portfolio are different and the latter version of success is always less human, less interesting, just less.
- bsder 3y agoWhat is happening in the craft beer market? Ballast Point had a similar trajectory. They got bought for a gigabuck and now are just gone. Why the hell would you buy a company and then screw it up? In the case of Ballast Point, all Constellation Brands had to do was leave the bought company alone. And, no, I don't believe that the issue is because you can buy great beers in every market. Hogwash. Maybe I can buy IPA, IPAer, IPAest, and IPAestest in every market--maybe. However, dark, heavy porters like old school Victory at Sea seem to be very thin on the ground nowadays. (Side question: Why is everything in craft brew now shipping in cans instead of bottles? When did that happen?)
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoFlying Dog from MD did the same thing Craft beer grew quickly since the mid 2000s, helped along by PE money, and now it's time to cash out Apparently 2023 is the year to cash out
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- golem14 3y ago"The hand drawn label" (every year a different tree) was too expensive ? Oh, come on, pull the other one, it has jingle bells on.
- 49erfangoniners 3y agoKinda doesn't taste good
- pacifist 3y agoMy fathers's dear friend Stese was close with the old brewmaster at Anchor Steam. He was in his 90's at the time and one day he told Stese to start following him around the brewery and watch how he did things so he could take over for him when he was gone. Stese dutifully observed the brewmaster and took over his duties when he died. Soon there was a kid following him around taking notes on a clipboard. Fritz Maytag took over the operation, expanded it, bought a fleet of trucks and gave steam beer in SF a second life.
- barathr 3y agoSome of you may have had the experience of catching a show at Bottom of the Hill and reliving the NOFX song Scavenger Type: Gigin alone at the bottom of the hill / Our protagonist named Bill / Sets his sights on an anchor steam pint / All he needs is thirteen quarters / Congregated in his hat I swear they must have a pipe straight from the brewery for how fresh it is there.
- inferiorhuman 3y agoBOTH and Anchor are about five blocks apart, so…
- jbigelow76 3y agoSaw this comment and realized how long it had been since I listened to "Punk in Drublic", has to be at least 15 years. I immediately went to Scavenger Type but then to "Linoleum", "The Brews", "Don't Call Me White", and now "The Cause", brings back memories man :)
- abhayb 3y agoThanks for that! I'll have to get a pint next time I'm there (for some prog-metal in like two weeks). Concert beer tastes better in glass glasses too heh
- gunshai 3y agoI just left a job at Deschutes Brewery. Craft Beer is in a real bad spot atm.
- enraged_camel 3y agoCan you elaborate?
- gunshai 3y agoSure, I oversaw their data historian and was a production analyst for their manufacturing facility in Bend. It is perhaps the most technologically advanced brewery systems currently. From a manufacturing standpoint that isn't saying much, but from a brewing standpoint it's saying quite a lot. Quite plainly they are making a bet on bringing NA beverage production in house and they can't pay me because "fresh" market conditions are squeezing them (pun intended). There are multiple factors that make it really difficult to be a craft beer manufacturer. Primary of which is the three tiered system on distribution, this has been a blight on the beer industry for decades and isn't new. Other trends such as a decrease in consumption of beer overall in combination with a HIGHLY saturated market place will pretty much seal the deal for the majority of mid-tier breweries that DO NOT have a loyal following. I never signed an NDA so if you want to know more about my job ask away.
- MAGZine 3y agoi really liked 2013 deschutes. i actually still think their older beers are good. mirror pond is still, imo, the quintessential pale ale. i miss chainbreaker. and the red chair was always a nice seasonal treat. i can't blame them for trying to chase trends, but my impression is their distribution was too large to be able to capitalize on anything groundbreaking.
- gunshai 3y ago>i really liked 2013 deschutes. One of the large contributing factors to the rise in Deschutes during that time was due to their investment in technology because of their newly appointed Brewmaster "Brian Faivre" a computer science grad from UC Davis. While I never met him I saw the result of his and many others who championed consistency and quality via data collection about their production process. This dude was essentially scared away due to internal politics. >but my impression is their distribution was too large to be able to capitalize on anything groundbreaking. The distribution is all through large distributors Deschutes and every other "Largish" craft brewery has to sell their soul to the devil that is the "three tiered" system in order to not have to make investments in solo distribution. Given what I know about their production facility and the people there. It is completely geared to cash in on basically any beer trend that could exist. Their pilot plant is simply ridiculous, it's a fully automated 40 bbl split wort A/B testing powerhouse. The best beer you've never tasted has been made in that thing. IMO Deschutes made many decisions that just ended up being a waste of money that severely crippled their cash position. Lastly trends in the beer world are a flash in the pan at this point. I disregard Seltzers because it's a different process that doesn't directly involve wort production and therefore many craft breweries aren't set up to pivot to such a product. One thing I attempted to stoke (not that this was at all my job) while working their is that marketing strategy should shift towards understanding that no consumer is loyal in the sense they always want to "try the new thing". This would have meant investments in better variety packing capabilities. If you didn't know variety packs are the highest velocity product, and my guess would be that any brewery that people think is good at all it's their highest velocity product as well. Time and time again I'd raise my hand and point to the metoric number for our variety packs (from a velocity stand point) and say "why can't we make investments that greatly bring down the cost and increase the production velocity for this product. Now you see brands like 10 barrel, Sierra Nevada basically doing just that.
- Rapzid 3y agoDamn, their Porter is legend and Old Foghorn is a Barlywine staple. That said in Texas we have 512 Brewing Pecan Porter and Real Ale Sisyphus.
- dcow 3y ago> Anchor, founded in 1896, was saved from bankruptcy in 1965 by longtime owner Fritz Maytag, and sold to Sapporo in 2017, Singer said. I see what happened.
- viknesh 3y agoIf you're implying it was because it was sold to Sapporo, it's possible the causality is wrong. It might have been sold because it was difficult to operate profitably, especially given how much the craft beer market has intensified.
- coffee 3y ago> "Anchor Brewing will no longer make its iconic holiday beer, Christmas Ale. The spice-laden winter warmer has been a brewing tradition since 1975 and something that Northern California beer lovers look forward to every November." > "It’s unlikely that it will come back." Nooooooooooo!
- thom 3y agoThis pops up from time to time in the UK and I was always quite fond of it after a trip to San Francisco over a decade ago. Sounds like UK and US craft beer culture have suffered similar fates of exploding numbers of IPAs, very few of which seem to justify their existence. I live in Sheffield which has a very strong craft ale culture but one thing I like about the US is you get more interesting lagers and steam beers, whereas fizzy beers are mostly sneered at by aficionados here. But sometimes, for example the current heatwave in the UK (which I’m sure Americans would laugh at), nothing beats that Ice Cold in Alex moment.
- a13o 3y agoThey used to brew small batches of Old Potrero whiskey in their warehouse across the street. Then they would hand it all over to their distributor and have no idea where it ended up. Ever since learning that, it's been a game to spot it at stores and restaurants and pick some up. I've even found a bottle 3,000 miles away on the east coast. Since it was just riding along with the steam beer, I'm guessing the whiskey's distribution will also be restricted to CA now.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoLike Guinness, beer tastes different/better when sampled near it's source. Staying California is likely a good thing for the quality of the product consumed. E.g. up in Northfield Minnesota they make Marshmallow Mateys, a ripoff of lucky charms made by Malt-o-Meal. In the dorm cafeteria at St. Olaf College the flavor is like nothing else anywhere in the world. Once you taste it there where they make it, everything else is a sad stale imitation.
- avree 3y agoI mean, Guinness tastes 'better' in Ireland because it's more popular, similar to how Miller on draft tastes 'better' in America - not because Miller makes it close to the bar, but because drinks that sell faster are fresher, sit in lines less, etc.
- osigurdson 3y agoIt is interesting, the market wants 2 types of colas and an infinite number of beer varieties at the moment.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoSodas are staples, beers are a treat. Consistency vs novelty.
- mattmoose21 3y agoI wonder if it is more of an issue with how dominant the two brands are? There are a lot of exclusivity deals with restaurants.
- osigurdson 3y agoI don’t think so, there are no barriers to entry for colas. People just aren’t interested in more options.
- slothtrop 3y agoThis depends on the consumer. Notwithstanding that both should be "a treat".
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- osigurdson 3y agoI completely get it on some level - I feel exactly the same way as the market does, but I can’t really put my finger on “why”.
- Tangurena2 3y agoIt was so hard for Pepsi to get into fast food restaurants that they had to buy several chains [0]. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum!_Brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum!_Brands
- nemo44x 3y agoAnchor had its warehouse unionize a few years ago. I’m guessing this change is a reaction to that.
- TomMasz 3y agoFritz Maytag was a pioneer of the microbrewery ("craft beer" hadn't been coined yet) industry and took a small struggling brewery and turned it around. Oh, and saved a beer style from extinction.
- jnsie 3y agoI _really_ want to try that Christmas Ale :-( Living on the east coast, are there any good alternatives (for sale during the Christmas period)!?
- mobilene 3y agoSadness. Anchor Steam has always hard to find here in Indiana, but I knew a few bars that had it. Delicious stuff. I'll miss it.
- rainbowzootsuit 3y agoAnchor Steam, Anchor porter, and Anchor liberty are longtime favorites. I think that the porter is a real standout, and have based some of my home brewing on trying to simulate its flavor. There's a lot of stouts out there but not many porters. The prevailing trend seems to be hop-bomb this and abv max out that. I'm usually not looking for an extreme sport in my mouth.
- mwbajor 3y agoImagine Marlboro stopped selling cigarettes, would everyone be nostalgically swooning over them like the comments here? There's absolutely no metabolic process that alcohol helps where at least cigarettes' increase your IQ: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-a-nicotine-patch-make-you-smarter-excerpt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-a-nicotine-p...
- smsm42 3y agoCan someone ELI5 me how selling beer only in California is more profitable than selling beer in California and also other places?
- GloriousKoji 3y agoLicenses, certifications, shipping, marketing, local distributor management, etc. is all extra overhead when dealing out of state makes your beer cost more compared to selling it locally. And when selling outside of California accounts for 30% of sales it might not be worth the effort.