San Francisco’s 127-year-old Anchor Brewing Co. will shut down and liquidate after years of declining gross sales, citing powerful financial situations.
Anchor has been a trailblazer within the U.S., brewing craft beers when most Individuals had been loyal to one of many few main breweries.
The brewery teetered on insolvency within the Sixties, when it was acquired by Stanford grad Fritz Maytag, in accordance with Anchor Brewing.
Maytag applied new brewing practices comparable to dry hopping, and commenced bottling the beer in 1971. By the mid Nineteen Seventies Anchor Brewing had assembled a strong portfolio of revered brews together with Anchor Porter, Liberty Ale, Outdated Foghorn Barleywine Ale, and the primary annual Christmas Ale, a sought-after brew across the vacation yearly in a number of areas of the U.S.
Beer makers have confronted rising difficulties over the previous few years, together with lockdowns applied throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation issues and the rise of gross sales of spirits.
Final yr, general beer gross sales quantity was down 3.1% within the U.S., in accordance with the Brewers Affiliation. Craft brewer gross sales quantity was up 0.1% throughout the interval, however imports are rising.
“We acknowledge the significance and historic significance of Anchor to San Francisco and to the craft brewing trade, however the impacts of the pandemic, inflation, particularly in San Francisco, and a extremely aggressive market left the corporate with no possibility however to make this unhappy resolution to stop operations,” spokesperson Sam Singer stated in a written assertion Wednesday.
Anchor stated that it made repeated efforts over the previous yr to search out consumers for the brewery and its manufacturers, however that it was unable to search out one. The corporate stated that it’s nonetheless doable {that a} purchaser will come ahead as a part of the liquidation course of.
Anchor lately introduced that it will restrict gross sales of its beers to California and that it will minimize manufacturing of its Anchor Christmas Ale, a well-liked beer in lots of elements of the nation, in an effort to chop prices.
The corporate has stopped brewing and can proceed packaging and distributing the beer available whereas accessible or via across the finish of the month.
Anchor Public Faucets will stay open briefly, promoting remaining stock, together with a small quantity of 2023 Anchor Christmas Ale, which was brewed previous to the corporate’s latest resolution to cancel the nationwide launch.
The brewer is giving workers a 60-day discover and plans to offer transition help and separation packages.
Anchor was based in San Francisco in 1896.
Supply: abcnews.go.com