San Francisco-based Anchor Brewing will turn off taps and draw a close on the century-old brewery whose contribution to “American beer history cannot be overstated,” officials said Wednesday.
The company — one of the nation’s old craft breweries, founded in 1896 — “will cease operations and liquidate the business following a combination of challenging economic factors and declining sales since 2016,” according to a company statement.
“Like many breweries and brew pubs, Anchor has been dramatically impacted by economic pressure that have made the business no longer sustainable.”
Wednesday’s announcement triggered a 60-day period for operations to completely cease and the company to pay “separation packages” to eligible employees, officials said.
Brewing operations have already been halted but the company will continue packaging and distributing the beer that’s left, in a process that’ll likely go through the end of this month.
Anchor Steam fans probably knew bad news was on tap a few weeks ago when the brewer announced it wouldn’t be producing its popular Christmas Ale this year.
“This was an extremely difficult decision that Anchor reached only after many months of careful evaluation,” company spokesman Sam Singer said in a statement.
“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 the company with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations.”
It’s still possible that the company’s plant in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, recipes and other assets could be purchased in a liquidation sale with a new buyer continuing the operation, Singer said.
“The Anchor team is hopeful that somebody sees the value, the history and the benefit of buying a 127-year-old historic brewery and keeping it alive,” he told NBC News on Wednesday.
“But that’s really up in the cards and on the hands of the liquidators to see if someone steps forward to make a bid.”
A spokesperson for the Brewers Association, which represents more than 5,400 brewers, distributors and craft beer retailers, said the trade group does not normally, by policy, comment on the opening and closing any beer company.
But the impending closure of Anchor Brewing — an iconic San Francisco staple as famous as sourdough bread, Ghirardelli Chocolate or Rice-A-Roni — prompted the association to offer a heartfelt eulogy.
“Anchor’s contributions to craft brewing and American beer history cannot be overstated,” Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson said in a statement.
In the growing, fast-changing landscape of craft brewing, not even the most beloved brands such as Anchor have free passage into the future of brewing, according to Watson.
“While the longevity of the brand is a testament to its innovation, the craft brewing market has radically grown and shifted over recent decades, with that change only accelerating in recent years,” Watson continued.
“A competitive distribution market and rising costs mean that even strong brands may be struggling to find growth in a slow growth environment that now includes nearly 10,000 breweries nationwide. Anchor’s announcement partially reflects this new maturing era for craft, and should be taken in the context of the large and competitive market that Anchor helped create.”
Anchor Brewing was purchased in 2017 by Sapporo U.S.A. and a representative for the corporation could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
