Anchor closing?!

[DoctorDuvel]

One has to expect new ownership will not run Anchor the way it was run into its (albeit temporary, from current appearances) demise. Something has to change for its second life to be successful...

Cheers!

I'm very curious to see what happens. I thought that a lot of what brought about their downfall was just being located in San Fran; wonder if they'll open another facility someplace where costs are cheaper and keep San Fran as a tap room or something.

 

[IDMaynard]

The CEO of Chobani(yogurt guy) bought Anchor Brewing and claims he will keep it going. Might get some interesting sours going.

 

[shavy]

dont know if this is good or bad prolly not great but it looks like chobani bought anchor steam brewing
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/business/anchor-hamdi-ulukaya-chobani-ceo.html

Hmmmmm, Anchor Gose with lacto from Chobani?

 

[madscientist451]

I'm very curious to see what happens. I thought that a lot of what brought about their downfall was just being located in San Fran; wonder if they'll open another facility someplace where costs are cheaper and keep San Fran as a tap room or something.

Not all problems in business can be solved by cost cutting. Anchor needs to change with the times and come out with some new products. Sam Adams reportedly makes more money on their twisted tea and truly hard seltzer than they do on beer.

 

[day_trippr]

Sam Adams may be sold to Japanese beverage company Suntory.
Maybe not the best example to follow

 

[DoctorDuvel]

I fully expect them to try some new product lines. I assume the Chobani guy has a good plan to make it all work or else he wouldn't have bought them - but then that's probably what Sapporo thought too lol.

 

[rtstrider]

Well I'll have to source some wlp810 locally here and get a steam beer brewed for the occasion!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I fully expect them to try some new product lines. I assume the Chobani guy has a good plan to make it all work or else he wouldn't have bought them - but then that's probably what Sapporo thought too lol.

Yeah, I am not sure what I would suggest as a strategy.

Anchor Christmas Ale is a unique beer that a lot of beer geeks around the country would seek out. I would often pick up a 6-pack when I saw it for sale. Keeping that in the rotation for national distribution seem wise.

I am not sure what strategy will work for Anchor Steam. It probably has enough popularity for national distribution, but it might also be an outdated product that will struggle nationally (like it seems to have done on the past). They could just double down on it being a Bay-area unique beer.

Outside of tap room and local sales, I am not sure that Anchor should go hard on standard lagers or hazy IPAs (which it seems like the direction they were moving). Was their "California Lager" brewed with the same yeast as Anchor Steam? I could see some market for a few beers (Pale Lager, Hoppy Lager, Cold/West Coast IPA, Blonde) made with their house 'lager' yeast.

Anchor Porter was a fav of mine that I would like to see back in distribution (same for Sierra Nevada Porter). I have not had Liberty Ale in a while. Is there a huge market for a 5.9% Cascade hopped Pale Ale these days? Maybe locally, but likely not nationally.

 

[rtstrider]

Yeah, I am not sure what I would suggest as a strategy.

Anchor Christmas Ale is a unique beer that a lot of beer geeks around the country would seek out. I would often pick up a 6-pack when I saw it for sale. Keeping that in the rotation for national distribution seem wise.

I am not sure what strategy will work for Anchor Steam. It probably has enough popularity for national distribution, but it might also be an outdated product that will struggle nationally (like it seems to have done on the past). They could just double down on it being a Bay-area unique beer.

Outside of tap room and local sales, I am not sure that Anchor should go hard on standard lagers or hazy IPAs (which it seems like the direction they were moving). Was their "California Lager" brewed with the same yeast as Anchor Steam? I could see some market for a few beers (Pale Lager, Hoppy Lager, Cold/West Coast IPA, Blonde) made with their house 'lager' yeast.

Anchor Porter was a fav of mine that I would like to see back in distribution (same for Sierra Nevada Porter). I have not had Liberty Ale in a while. Is there a huge market for a 5.9% Cascade hopped Pale Ale these days? Maybe locally, but likely not nationally.

The BYO clone book shows the steam beer as using the Cali common strain. It shows the california lager as using either a variant of w34/70 or s-23. So IDK...Never really been able to get my hands on many Anchor brews. The california lager has been the FSU kickoff brew the past 2 years. It's going to be brewed again with Omega German Lager 1 DKO strain this year. I'm really curious to see how it turns out!

 

[madscientist451]

Thanks, hadn’t heard of the Suntory deal yet, but why isn’t that a good example? Isn’t a corporate takeover
better than being shut down and the pieces auctioned off?

Sam Adams may be sold to Japanese beverage company Suntory.
Maybe not the best example to follow

 

[Broothru]

The BYO clone book shows the steam beer as using the Cali common strain. It shows the california lager as using either a variant of w34/70 or s-23. So IDK...Never really been able to get my hands on many Anchor brews. The california lager has been the FSU kickoff brew the past 2 years. It's going to be brewed again with Omega German Lager 1 DKO strain this year. I'm really curious to see how it turns out!

That Omega DKO German lager is either Andechs or Augustiner. I’ve got a pouch of it that I got last Fall that’s at or near its expiration but haven’t had the chance to use it yet.

I did, however, just brew with WLP-808 “Mythical Hammer” mixed strain lager yeast. White Labs is silent on which strains were combined, but it was formulated to be used in pressurized fermentations. I brewed a Blonde Ale trying to replicate Salty Crew from Coronado Brewing in San Diego.

I fermented at 63F @ 1BAR, and it reached final gravity in five days. Clean as a whistle, hops and malts well balanced, and no hint of diacytl. I was very pleased with the performance of the yeast.

Brewed, fermented, crashed and kegged in ten days! You might want to use the WLP-808 unpressurized at low to mid-60sF for a Cali Common to produce some subtle esters.

Thread drift: how are the ‘Noles looking for this year? We only made it to one home game last year, but tailgated like rock stars!

 

[DoctorDuvel]

I have not had Liberty Ale in a while. Is there a huge market for a 5.9% Cascade hopped Pale Ale these days?

Maybe the market will come back around for more classic beers since it seems the hazy and fruited and milkshake'd beers are falling away a bit - I loved Liberty Ale. By the way, whenever I read a comment from you, I hear it in my head with your delivery like in your videos, makes it pretty entertaining lol.

 

[day_trippr]

Thanks, hadn’t heard of the Suntory deal yet, but why isn’t that a good example? Isn’t a corporate takeover
better than being shut down and the pieces auctioned off?

If those are the two choices I suppose a sell-out is preferable to extinction. That said, the idea of "Sam Adams" being owned by any non-American corporation would be disappointing...

Cheers!

 

[rtstrider]

That Omega DKO German lager is either Andechs or Augustiner. I’ve got a pouch of it that I got last Fall that’s at or near its expiration but haven’t had the chance to use it yet.

I did, however, just brew with WLP-808 “Mythical Hammer” mixed strain lager yeast. White Labs is silent on which strains were combined, but it was formulated to be used in pressurized fermentations. I brewed a Blonde Ale trying to replicate Salty Crew from Coronado Brewing in San Diego.

I fermented at 63F @ 1BAR, and it reached final gravity in five days. Clean as a whistle, hops and malts well balanced, and no hint of diacytl. I was very pleased with the performance of the yeast.

Brewed, fermented, crashed and kegged in ten days! You might want to use the WLP-808 unpressurized at low to mid-60sF for a Cali Common to produce some subtle esters.

Thread drift: how are the ‘Noles looking for this year? We only made it to one home game last year, but tailgated like rock stars!

I have to wonder if it is indeed 34/70 because it's a good bit cleaner than the versions I've used previously. I'm going to have to brew a few helles (DARN) early next year to do a side by side of German Lager 1 DKO and WLP830 at 54F under pressure.

 

[Broothru]

I’ve had my unitank for 5-6 years, and I’ve been spunding every fermentation since getting it. But oddly, this latest brew is the first one I’ve done under pressure from start to finish. It seemed really good when I pressure transferred into the keg after cold crashing.

The keg has been cold conditioning @ 38F while we’ve been out of town in Wisconsin. Should be home next Monday after Father’s Day, so I’m hoping to receive a pleasant surprise when we get there of a carbed, cleared, conditioned and cold brew coming out of the tap.

If this whole “ferment with lager yeast @63F and 1 BAR” works out as good as everyone claims, I’ll be crankin’ ‘em out in a couple of weeks instead of months!

 

[Albionwood]

Yeah, I am not sure what I would suggest as a strategy.

Anchor Christmas Ale is a unique beer that a lot of beer geeks around the country would seek out. I would often pick up a 6-pack when I saw it for sale. Keeping that in the rotation for national distribution seem wise.

I am not sure what strategy will work for Anchor Steam. It probably has enough popularity for national distribution, but it might also be an outdated product that will struggle nationally (like it seems to have done on the past). They could just double down on it being a Bay-area unique beer.

Outside of tap room and local sales, I am not sure that Anchor should go hard on standard lagers or hazy IPAs (which it seems like the direction they were moving). Was their "California Lager" brewed with the same yeast as Anchor Steam? I could see some market for a few beers (Pale Lager, Hoppy Lager, Cold/West Coast IPA, Blonde) made with their house 'lager' yeast.

Anchor Porter was a fav of mine that I would like to see back in distribution (same for Sierra Nevada Porter). I have not had Liberty Ale in a while. Is there a huge market for a 5.9% Cascade hopped Pale Ale these days? Maybe locally, but likely not nationally.

That's clearly the question the new owner thinks he has answered.
Anchor is unlikely to succeed as a national high-volume brand (that's the strategy that failed already). The brand however has great name recognition and a lot of goodwill among a certain segment of the beer market. Going back to its roots and getting into the same part of the market that it was before it lost its way might be a winning strategy: the flagship Steam Beer on taps throughout the region, niche beers like Porter for the discerning brewpubs, and roll out special seasonals and one-offs to the beer nerds (that's us) to keep our interest.

 

[Bramling Cross]

That's clearly the question the new owner thinks he has answered.
Anchor is unlikely to succeed as a national high-volume brand (that's the strategy that failed already). The brand however has great name recognition and a lot of goodwill among a certain segment of the beer market. Going back to its roots and getting into the same part of the market that it was before it lost its way might be a winning strategy: the flagship Steam Beer on taps throughout the region, niche beers like Porter for the discerning brewpubs, and roll out special seasonals and one-offs to the beer nerds (that's us) to keep our interest.

I think you're right, ultimately Anchor is a passion project.

Like Rickenbacker guitars, Morgan sports cars, or mechanical watches, they're all sorta garbage if you look at them through the modern, disposable culture lens. Nevertheless, they manage to persist, as much through marketing BS as anything else.

I've been toying with the idea of potentially poaching some talent from one of the big high fashion conglomerates. That said, even in the era of $16 four packs, there isn't much future for a company that makes $200 dollar six packs of domestic 2-row, a dumb amount of C-40, a bunch of Northerbrewer, and an oddball yeast strain. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong.

 

[rtstrider]

Just spun up 2112 and am brewing the byo clone Tuesday evening. Thankfully just had a keg open up Haven't had a proper steam beer in years! Really curious to see how this turns out! Honestly it's been so long I don't remember how the actual brew tastes so hopefully the recipe from the byo clone book gets in the ball park

 

[Bramling Cross]

Just spun up 2112 and am brewing the byo clone Tuesday evening. Thankfully just had a keg open up Haven't had a proper steam beer in years! Really curious to see how this turns out! Honestly it's been so long I don't remember how the actual brew tastes so hopefully the recipe from the byo clone book gets in the ball park

Anchor has always been very transparent with their recipes and techniques--one of the many reasons why we love them! The BYO clone is a good one, damned near a dead ringer. However it brews much lighter in color than the draft or bottled versions from the brewery. Personally, I toss in .5 oz of Midnight Wheat to darken it up just a bit. I'm still too light with a 90min boil. It's close enough, though, that I haven't bothered to try a full ounce.

[Edit: When you're done, use that cake for a cream ale or a N. American Wheat. It's phenomenal in both styles. It's also stupidly good in fruit ales and Baltic Porters.]

 

[worlddivides]

I don't know about the Chobani guy, but Suntory owns a ton of Scottish, Irish, and American distilleries, some of them among my favorites. (Not a list of my favorites, though some of my favorites are included) Basil Hayden's, Booker's, Baker's, Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, Old Overholt, Jim Beam, Auchentoshan, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Ardmore. And some amazing Japanese distilleries too such as Hibiki, Chita, Yamazaki, Hakushu. They also own Sauza and Hornitos, among a few other tequila brands.

Just judging off the quality of the Scotch, American, and Japanese whiskies they've owned for quite a while, I'd actually be secure in them owning a craft beer brewery. That said, I can't think of any craft beer breweries they own. Suntory is most famous in Japan for their beer, but it's almost exclusively lagers.

Anchor is not a brewery whose beers I drank super often, but I did enjoy them when I did. Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale were mainly what I got, but I also bought Brekle's Brown and Anchor IPA a few times.

 

[day_trippr]

There was a rumor flying about recently alleging Suntory was looking to buy the Boston Beer Company.
Everyone denies everything at this point, of course

https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-beer-suntory-sale-rumors-response/60993468

Cheers!

 

[rtstrider]

Anchor has always been very transparent with their recipes and techniques--one of the many reasons why we love them! The BYO clone is a good one, damned near a dead ringer. However it brews much lighter in color than the draft or bottled versions from the brewery. Personally, I toss in .5 oz of Midnight Wheat to darken it up just a bit. I'm still too light with a 90min boil. It's close enough, though, that I haven't bothered to try a full ounce.

[Edit: When you're done, use that cake for a cream ale or a N. American Wheat. It's phenomenal in both styles. It's also stupidly good in fruit ales and Baltic Porters.]

Thanks for that info! Unfortunately I don't have any midnight wheat so going to just give the recipe a go as is and see what happens. 2112 is definitely a good yeast and I'm very excited to be brewing with it! It would normally get a few repitches but I have an aging pack of WLP815 that needs to be spun up and banked so going to brew a West Coast Pils then move over to Omega German Lager 1 DKO for the annual FSU kickoff lager Anchor California Lager from the BYO book. It's been good luck the past two seasons (mostly) so going to keep it going! Going to be pitching a few of the Oktoberfest brews on that yeast cake though.

 

[Broothru]

Anchor has always been very transparent with their recipes and techniques--one of the many reasons why we love them! The BYO clone is a good one, damned near a dead ringer. However it brews much lighter in color than the draft or bottled versions from the brewery. Personally, I toss in .5 oz of Midnight Wheat to darken it up just a bit. I'm still too light with a 90min boil. It's close enough, though, that I haven't bothered to try a full ounce.

[Edit: When you're done, use that cake for a cream ale or a N. American Wheat. It's phenomenal in both styles. It's also stupidly good in fruit ales and Baltic Porters.]

I’ve always had good luck correcting for light color with Blackprinze (500L). A little goes a looong way! Totally neutral taste, no roasted bitterness.

I’ve got an Anchor clone recipe that seemed pretty close to me, but I haven’t brewed it in years. Not sure how it compares to the Byo clone. I was thinking about dusting it off to enter in a comp this fall, just as a tribute to Fritz, and how it helped open the door to the craft brewing boom in the 70s~80s.

 

[rtstrider]

I’ve always had good luck correcting for light color with Blackprinze (500L). A little goes a looong way! Totally neutral taste, no roasted bitterness.

I’ve got an Anchor clone recipe that seemed pretty close to me, but I haven’t brewed it in years. Not sure how it compares to the Byo clone. I was thinking about dusting it off to enter in a comp this fall, just as a tribute to Fritz, and how it helped open the door to the craft brewing boom in the 70s~80s.

I plan on brewing the Liberty ale clone and the Porter clone after the Oktoberfest brews. Figured I could knock out the Liberty clone then re-pitch some yeast for the porter. I'm not big on porters by all means, but, I think it'd be a neat venture...Plus I've never brewed a porter and have been brewing for 7 and a half years now lol

 

[Bramling Cross]

I’ve always had good luck correcting for light color with Blackprinze (500L).

No kidding? I didn't know they still made Blackprinze! That's awesome!

Thanks for letting me know!