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I 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 pr
by subpixel 3y ago
I 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.
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- malablaster 3y agoSome of the younger readers might not realize that Anchor was at the forefront of the American craft brewing renaissance. Back then Canadians would laugh at USA beer as all tasting like water. Only Europe had craft brew. Fast forward to now and the market is saturated. There are more craft breweries per capita in the USA than in Germany. We’re beyond peak craft brew.
- htag 3y ago> We’re beyond peak craft brew. Peak craft beer implies that the trend is now on a downward trajectory. I don't know if that is the case, craft beer feels really ingrained in the culture at this point. 1. Is there a decrease in craft breweries being started, or total gallons of craft beer being produced? 2. Is there a decrease in beer brewing hobby supplies?
- mumblemumble 3y agoTo #1, at least according to the Brewers Association figures (https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/national-beer-stats/ https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/natio...), craft beer sales have been fairly stagnant since about 2015. That has been kind of a problem for an industry that was seeing investment at a rate that would seem to presume that this rocketshp was headed to the moon. And, maybe most pertinent to the situation for Anchor, regional and microbrewery beer sales have been in decline. The only segment of the craft beer industry that's growing is taprooms. To #2, yes, at least in my area there are about half as many homebrew supply shops as there were ten years ago.
- dagw 3y agoAs to #2, how much of that is due to online sales? The last homebrew store in my town closed down last year, but there are is much wider selection of both equipment and ingredients available to me now than at any other time.
- dfxm12 3y agoWe're beyond the peak from a critical view. Most innovation from brewers today is coming in terms of marketing or making numbers go up (loading up on ABV or IBUs), while seemingly treating flavor as secondary. I'm definitely not saying no one is making good new beer anymore, just that the improvements from the ~80s-00s has slowed down.
- evmar 3y agoGrowing up outside of California I knew their name from a line in this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y0R-QccpcQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y0R-QccpcQ
- noirbot 3y agoTreehouse is almost definitely in that conversation as well. Hill Farmstead as well. The uproar is probably more among folks who follow the industry though. Most people have seen Anchor at a grocery store at some point. They were, I'm pretty sure, a natural niche craft brewery before those things were normal. In the same zone as places like Sam Adams or New Belgium or Sierra Nevada. You didn't have to really be "into beer" to know what they were and maybe enjoy buying a Christmas Ale from them every year as a seasonal thing. To OP's point, there's less places like that now, but that's because I have 3 local breweries I'd be sad about if they closed, instead of 1-2 national breweries. I'd be sad if Trillium or Alchemist closed, but it's not as if I could buy them without traveling to the area, so it's more of a "aww, that's a bummer" and less of a change to my life. I'm not sure either is better/worse though. We've just moved beyond the sort of craft beer monoculture. We don't just have 2-3 Christmas Ales we all drink, in the same way we don't all watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or all talk about the new episode of ER every week.
- abathur 3y agoI've seen Anchor Steam in good beer bars and stores on the Gulf coast, East coast, and great lakes. In Houston I have no trouble (until now, I guess) finding one or two of the magnum size Christmas ales to take to holiday parties and have been doing so for several years. I have never lived in California.
- dagw 3y agoAnchor Brewing was among the first good American craft beer I could consistently find in pubs and bars across Europe. It was also the beer that really made me aware that there was more to American beer than Coors and Bud light.
- Reason077 3y ago> "Anchor Brewing company, which honestly I have never heard of not being in California." Weird, it's quite well-known even internationally. I certainly see it regularly in London, at the kind of places which sell imported American beers.
- Galaxity 3y agoNot being in California is not a reason you wouldn't know it. If you ever looked up the history of beer in the US or US beer styles you would know it. All the people in the craft beer industry certainly do. Maybe the craft beer drinkers in parts of the country don't know it but Steam/California Common is one of the few original US beer styles. And Anchor was one of the first in the modern craft beer revolution.
- iaresee 3y agoAllagash ceasing production would definitely cause a susurration.
- jt2190 3y agoThe founder of Boston Beer Company (brewers of Sam Adams) has talked about how beer drinkers now want to try one of everything and are endlessly moving from label to label, whereas in the past drinkers would settle on one brand and stick with it for years. This hurts the “small” (versus “micro”) brewers like Anchor because they’re viewed as “too corporate”.
- basch 3y agoAt some point you try enough and settle back into old predictable. Two of the right answers as always good fallbacks are Edmund Fitzgerald and Newcastle.
- stickfigure 3y ago> brewers like Anchor because they’re viewed as “too corporate”. They are owned by Sapporo now, so there's that.
- jt2190 3y agoYes. And just like you’re implying, it has nothing to do with the beer quality itself (which might even be better now that they’re owned by Sapporo [1]) but some other criteria like “being cool”. [1] Note that I said “might be better [quality]…” Without knowing the details of how Anchor beer is made specifically, corporate ownership can bring more resources and remove barriers, enabling “more, better” or it can exploit a trusted brand by using it to sell a lower quality product until consumers catch on. My bet would be that Sapporo is doing the former.
- pdntspa 3y ago> Such is progress - there is no more regional taste, only trend Can you tell that to Yuengling, I would really like to partake in their beer without having to fly to Philly
- bsder 3y agoWell, you can get Yuengling in Texas, last I checked.
- Qworg 3y agoYuengling is made in Pittsburgh and Tampa.
- bsder 3y agoPottsville, which is over by Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh. And is also now brewed in Fort Worth: https://fortworthbusiness.com/restaurants/fort-worth-brewed-yuengling-beer-makes-texas-debut/ https://fortworthbusiness.com/restaurants/fort-worth-brewed-...
- tedunangst 3y agoThe press release is hysterical, insisting yuengling is America's oldest brewery while acknowledging their partner molson is over two centuries old. (Everyone knows Canada isn't America.) https://www.yuengling.com/news/yuengling-begins-westward-expansion-with-distribution-into-texas/ https://www.yuengling.com/news/yuengling-begins-westward-exp...
- vrosas 3y agoI stopped drinking Yuengling when they got cozy with Trump in 2016. So many other superior breweries in Philly - Yards, Victory, Attic just to name a few.
- pdntspa 3y agoI don't really believe in this whole stupid 'boycott them because they don't align with my values' bullshit, people should be free to express their political opinions however they see fit
- wrycoder 3y agoSure there is. Alchemist. But, you can only get it within 100 miles of Waterbury VT, it’s so popular and limited. Try the Focal Banger.
- kodt 3y agoThey regularly distribute to New York City and have for several years now. Philadelphia as well. They also send some to California on a semi-regular basis. It has also shown up in Denver a few times.
- thehappypm 3y agoI don’t think they distribute outside of Vermont — if any gets there it’s because someone loaded a truck up
- Master_Odin 3y agoThere's a handful of bars throughout NY that you can see at least Heady Topper at. In the capital region, Albany Ale & Oyster and The Ruck will have it with regularity. Seeing Focal Banger is much rarer, and then all their other beers are essentially taproom in Stowe only though.
- devb 3y agoI occasionally get Heady Topper in New Jersey. The stores usually limit how many you can buy, but it does show up here and there.
- kodt 3y agoThat used to be the case, but they do officially distribute to limited areas. New York primarily has been receiving regular shipments of Heady Topper for several years now. During COVID they sent shipments to California and Denver, and have continued to do so on an occasional basis. Monks Cafe in Philly also has received shipments. All through proper distribution channels.
- subpixel 3y agoTheir beer might be subjectively better in a head-to-head with the dozens of other beers that are just like them, but there are dozens of other beers that are just like them.
- andygcook 3y agoIt probably depends on the geographical scope of the uproar. Trillium and Treehouse shutting down suddenly would cause quite the kerfuffle for people living in the Boston area. Allagash from Maine would cause a national uproar in my opinion too.
- stephencanon 3y agoAny of Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, or Lawsons would be an uproar, and they’re all within like 60 miles of each other. Across New England there are many.
- cauthon 3y agoTreehouse too
- voidfunc 3y agoI've had all of them, other than being darlings of craft beer geeks, there is nothing really different about them. Parent is correct.
- francisofascii 3y agoI think your average local brewery has trouble making a good tasting New England style IPA. If you found any NEIPA beers like Heady Topper or Sip of Sunshine, and are widely available, honestly let me know. Other beer styles are easier to recreate, but the NEIPA style is hard to get right.
- scythe 3y agoNarragansett is in New England! It's not exactly craft beer, but the bumper stickers on practically every car in RI tell me its following is pretty devoted. It's generally my beer of choice at bars, too, but I could survive if I had to go back to High Life. Switchback is also pretty good. It's not a big name style but it's very well done for what it is. Most people don't know about it, though, it seems.
- nemo44x 3y agoIt’s a great easy sipping lager.
- stephencanon 3y agoSold on Merit!
- thehappypm 3y agoIs this a joke?
- chad_c 3y agoHas to be.
- chad_c 3y agoMaine Brewing Company would make waves.
- nortonham 3y agoAllagash? Sam Adams? Budweiser (they have in operation in NH iirc). Smuttynose in NH? I feel like there are breweries across new england that if they stopped tomorrow would affect a lot of people, but maybe on a smaller scale. Of course people would buy something else, but they would still be sad to see it go.