A legend on the craft beer circuit is finally hanging up its hat after well over a century in business:
San Francisco-based Anchor Brewing will turn off the taps and draw a close to the century-old brewery whose contribution to "American beer history cannot be overstated," it said Wednesday.
The company — one of the country's oldest craft breweries, founded in 1896 — "will cease operations and liquidate the business following a combination of challenging economic factors and declining sales since 2016," it said in a statement.
"Declining sales" is a bit generic.
Let's turn over to the LA Times for a sec:
The brewery was losing around $10 million a year since COVID-19 "significantly affected" its business, according to parent company Sapporo Holdings Ltd.
Translation: Political lockdowns killed the brewery.
But that's not all:
"This was an extremely difficult decision that we reached only after many months of careful evaluation," said Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Anchor Brewing. "We recognize the importance and historic significance of Anchor to San Francisco and to the craft brewing industry, but the impacts of the pandemic, inflation, especially in San Francisco, and a highly competitive market left us with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations."
"Especially in San Francisco"
Let me offer some context for what that means:
Anchor Brewing remained one of the last producers of "steam beer," an older variety of beer production that ferments the yeast at higher-than-normal temperatures:
Its roots lay in the early days of the California Gold Rush, when German immigrant Gottlieb Brekle began brewing beer in San Francisco. It has changed hands several times over the years and was most recently acquired by Japan-based Sapporo Breweries.
The closure was "an extremely difficult decision that Anchor reached only after many months of careful evaluation," the company said.
The owners remain hopeful that "somebody sees the value, the history and the benefit of buying a 127-year-old historic brewery and keeping it alive," Anchor added.
