The sad truth, however, is we all hurt Anchor by not drinking its Steam Beer and hoping that someone else would keep it going.
Scott Ungermann
July 26, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)
The buzzards are circling and the doomsayers have given their eulogies, but despite what you may have heard, Anchor Brewery isn’t dead yet. The taproom is still open for a few more days and the final pints of Anchor Steam have yet to be poured out.
Nevertheless, everyone in San Francisco seems to have an opinion on what went wrong and the way it was handled. Blame for the brewery’s impending closure has been heaped out upon Sapporo USA, the “foreign-owned” brewing company that bought the brewery in 2017 and announced the closure earlier this month. Blame has also been thrown the way of the unionization efforts, the former owners and the marketing team that developed the brewery’s rebranding (all of whom are no longer with the company).
When the dust settles, none of these opinions will matter.
That said, I’d like to offer some context and analysis — as someone who worked at Anchor for six years and whose family has been in love with the brewery for most of our lives. My brother still works there — pouring pints, and until recently, giving tours.
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My personal history with Anchor runs deep. I collected Anchor Christmas Ale bottles as a teen, and I first toured the brewery as a college student in 1986. It was this beautiful and historic place that inspired me to become a home brewer and eventually to study brewing and pursue a career in making beer. I drank Anchor Steam whenever I found it after I moved away from the Bay Area, and I bought a six-pack and a magnum of Christmas Ale religiously each year. Then, I was lucky enough to come back to the Bay Area in 2014 and work for Anchor, running its brewing operations. It was my dream job, the best I’ve ever had.
I was there when we sold to Sapporo and stayed through the transition as part of the management team. I saw it as my job to make it work.
Unfortunately, the pandemic hit Anchor hard. Draft beer in bars and restaurants was our bread and butter. When everything shut down it took a big bite out of our business. A few months into the pandemic we knew a large portion of our business was gone and wasn’t coming back soon. I was asked to cut costs. We had to look at everything — malt, water, hops, energy and, of course, people. So, we restructured. And I reorganized myself out of a job along with a few others.
But the business continued to go from bad to worse. The rebrand did not go well. There’s been plenty of discourse on that subject, but I’m not going to add to the pile. It’s easy to blame management, blame the pandemic and blame the rebrand.
The sad truth is we all hurt Anchor by not drinking Steam Beer and hoping that someone else would keep it going.
Will Anchor Brewing be lost to history? Not likely. The brand is still for sale. And even if it dies, its beer will live on. Anyone who wants to can make Anchor’s California Common beer — they just can’t call it “Steam Beer” unless they buy the brand and the trademark from Sapporo.
Can they make it the same as Anchor Steam without making it in those magical open fermenters in San Francisco? Not likely. So that bit of history dies if the brewery does not start back up on Portero Hill. For now, the yeast will be stored, the recipes will remain with the brewery, and it will be up to someone other than Sapporo to continue that legacy. For a price.
Who will that be? That part of the story is yet to unfold. A third-party liquidator will help sort it all out. The brewery and the brand and other assets could be sold separately or all as one entity.
There are several possible outcomes to this scenario. The brand could be bought by another brewery and the buildings and equipment sold separately. The brewery could move to another location. The main building could become a museum, an office building or get gutted and turned into loft space. Or worse, it could be torn down. An angel investor or group of investors could buy the whole thing and try to make it work right where it is. That is the nostalgic outcome that so many people seem to be yearning for. The suitors are supposedly lining up to buy a piece of that nostalgia. Petitions and websites have been launched. The workers and the union have even proposed taking a run at it.
Whatever the outcome, if Anchor Steam Beer lives on in some fashion, it is up to all of us to keep it alive. There has been a groundswell of enthusiasm to get a last pint of Anchor Steam while one still can. Anchor Public Taps has been packed with nostalgia running rampant amid glimmers of hope. But everyone will need to continue to buy the beers, to stock the shelves and pour the pints if they want the brand to survive.
We can’t expect anyone else to do that for us.
Scott Ungermann is the former brewmaster and vice president of production and logistics for Anchor Brewing.
Written By Scott Ungermann
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