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> Anchor was established in San Francisco in 1896 and was the country's first craft brewery. So what definitions are being used here to claim this? Yuengling i

> Anchor was established in San Francisco in 1896 and was the country's first craft brewery. So what definitions are being used here to claim this? Yuengling is quite a bit older, for example.

ryandamm 3y ago
Yeah the article is a little muddled; it’s better to understand Anchor as the oldest existing brewery that makes what we think of as craft beer. When it started there were many small, local brewers making a variety of beers. Prohibition and changing tastes killed off most of the breweries — it helped to be above a certain size so you could profitable brew, say, malted syrups during prohibition. Those that remained after prohibition ended quickly consolidated — that’s how we got the oligopoly off Bud, Miller, and Coors. Consolidation continues for decades afterwards of course; the brands that got rolled up into the conglomerates included a number of light lager breweries. What distinguishes Anchor from Yuengling and others is Anchor made something other than a light lager — they made steam beer, a warm-fermented lager that has some ale characteristics. I would categorize it as “proto-craft,” since the real craft movement started in the 80s with Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams; Anchor was an inspiration, a holdover, and an anomaly. (Most of my sources for this post are Celebrator beer magazine and a series of books I’ve read, but I don’t have them at my fingertips so I may have some specifics slightly wrong here, caveat emptor for reading random internet comments.)
- acheron 3y ago
  Makes sense, thanks.
- awithrow 3y ago
  Yuengling's flaghsip is an Amber Lager, not a light lager in the same vein as bud/miller/coors. Also, they didn't introduce their amber until the 80s. Prior to that their main beer was their porter. I don't think there is a coherent definition of craft breweries that includes Anchor but not Yuengling
  - pinot 3y ago
    Yuengling is "Craft" per the BA and older then Anchor. Author is wrong.
mattmaroon 3y ago
Yuengling is not considered craft beer by a lot of people because it’s made mainly from adjuncts, in their case corn. It’s only recent that the Brewer’s Association changed the definition to include them, but most people in the industry disagree with it. Yuengling is just a cheaply made lager that’s really no better than Budweiser. But, that term doesn’t have an official definition so they still can claim the title.
- floren 3y ago
  > Yuengling is just a cheaply made lager that’s really no better than Budweiser. Now, maybe in terms of production methods, but I've consumed plenty of Bud and absolutely gallons of Yuengling, and Yuengling stands apart. It's not fancy, but it's good. College parties in Rochester would usually include Labatt, Molson, Yuengling, and Genesee. Only the Yuengling was worthy as a drinking beer; Labatt and Molson were just for shotgunning & pong, and Genesee was for joking about what it did to your bowels.
  - rhapsodic 3y ago
    [dead]
  - mattmaroon 3y ago
    Eh. A lot of people have very distinct expressed preferences for one mass market lager over another ("I only drink Coors!")and then in blind taste tests completely fail to pick them apart at any better a rate than chance. I'm always skeptical when people tell me one adjunct beer is better than another. I'm not saying you're for sure wrong, certainly some beers are distinguihsable from some other beers, but you might consider having someone do a blind taste test with you some day just for fun. I've made a number of friends angry when they tell me they like one particular vodka and I do a few triangle tests and show them that they can't actually tell one from another.
- ak217 3y ago
  Yuengling sure tastes better than most "craft" beers to me.
awithrow 3y ago
Its just plain incorrect. As you note, Yuengling is older (1829) and is considered a craft brewery by the Brewers Association. Given that this is just a local news website, I just assume they're not exactly doing a ton of work verifying the press release
- tanjtanjtanj 3y ago
  The definition of a craft brewery from the brewer's association is more practically stated as "The same size or smaller than Sam Adams".

> Anchor was established in San Francisco in 1896 and was the country's first craft brewery. So what definitions are being used here to claim this? Yuengling is quite a bit older, for example.

ryandamm 3y ago

Yeah the article is a little muddled; it’s better to understand Anchor as the oldest existing brewery that makes what we think of as craft beer. When it started there were many small, local brewers making a variety of beers. Prohibition and changing tastes killed off most of the breweries — it helped to be above a certain size so you could profitable brew, say, malted syrups during prohibition. Those that remained after prohibition ended quickly consolidated — that’s how we got the oligopoly off Bud, Miller, and Coors. Consolidation continues for decades afterwards of course; the brands that got rolled up into the conglomerates included a number of light lager breweries. What distinguishes Anchor from Yuengling and others is Anchor made something other than a light lager — they made steam beer, a warm-fermented lager that has some ale characteristics. I would categorize it as “proto-craft,” since the real craft movement started in the 80s with Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams; Anchor was an inspiration, a holdover, and an anomaly. (Most of my sources for this post are Celebrator beer magazine and a series of books I’ve read, but I don’t have them at my fingertips so I may have some specifics slightly wrong here, caveat emptor for reading random internet comments.)

acheron 3y ago
Makes sense, thanks.
awithrow 3y ago
Yuengling's flaghsip is an Amber Lager, not a light lager in the same vein as bud/miller/coors. Also, they didn't introduce their amber until the 80s. Prior to that their main beer was their porter. I don't think there is a coherent definition of craft breweries that includes Anchor but not Yuengling
- pinot 3y ago
  Yuengling is "Craft" per the BA and older then Anchor. Author is wrong.

mattmaroon 3y ago

Yuengling is not considered craft beer by a lot of people because it’s made mainly from adjuncts, in their case corn. It’s only recent that the Brewer’s Association changed the definition to include them, but most people in the industry disagree with it. Yuengling is just a cheaply made lager that’s really no better than Budweiser. But, that term doesn’t have an official definition so they still can claim the title.

floren 3y ago
> Yuengling is just a cheaply made lager that’s really no better than Budweiser. Now, maybe in terms of production methods, but I've consumed plenty of Bud and absolutely gallons of Yuengling, and Yuengling stands apart. It's not fancy, but it's good. College parties in Rochester would usually include Labatt, Molson, Yuengling, and Genesee. Only the Yuengling was worthy as a drinking beer; Labatt and Molson were just for shotgunning & pong, and Genesee was for joking about what it did to your bowels.
- rhapsodic 3y ago
  [dead]
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  Eh. A lot of people have very distinct expressed preferences for one mass market lager over another ("I only drink Coors!")and then in blind taste tests completely fail to pick them apart at any better a rate than chance. I'm always skeptical when people tell me one adjunct beer is better than another. I'm not saying you're for sure wrong, certainly some beers are distinguihsable from some other beers, but you might consider having someone do a blind taste test with you some day just for fun. I've made a number of friends angry when they tell me they like one particular vodka and I do a few triangle tests and show them that they can't actually tell one from another.
ak217 3y ago
Yuengling sure tastes better than most "craft" beers to me.

awithrow 3y ago

Its just plain incorrect. As you note, Yuengling is older (1829) and is considered a craft brewery by the Brewers Association. Given that this is just a local news website, I just assume they're not exactly doing a ton of work verifying the press release

tanjtanjtanj 3y ago
The definition of a craft brewery from the brewer's association is more practically stated as "The same size or smaller than Sam Adams".