Everyone should realize we all contributed to their demise. When was the last time you purchased Anchor other than for a BJCP class, Christmas Ale, or Old Foghorn?
I really dislike this take, which comes up every time a brewery closes. (WSJ not terribly long ago was blaming young people who drink less for closing bars down.) It's not our job as consumers to prop up businesses or to Denny's point, buy products we don't like to help them out. I've never been a big fan of Anchor's beers so I didn't buy them.
More generally on the subject:
It's ok to feel remorse for a legacy brewery with a romantic location that reached the end of the line, but it's not our fault. We didn't control the recipes, or what beers they brewed, or how they marketed it. That rebranding a few years ago was terrible. They completely ignored over a decade of trends towards other styles and away from crystal malts. As a homebrewer I can respect commitment to brewing what they want and keeping the beers the way they want but that's why I'm a homebrewer and not a pro brewer.
I've seen some reports this week that Anchor was in financial distress before the sale and that's why it was sold, rather than because nobody in the family wanted to brew beer. That's not too surprising given that craft beer at the top of the market was years into cutting crystal malts out of recipes, the rise of hazy IPAs, sours, barrel programs, pastry stouts and stress on local breweries. Those are all things that cut out breweries like Anchor from the market.
I don't know what the future is for the Anchor brand, if anything, but I hope the brewery remains intact and sold to investors who want to relish the heritage of the location. That's probably unlikely given the cost of real estate in the area and the difficulty brewing on an older system like that.
They've always been in that class of "beers you read about but never meet in the wild" — like Westvleteren, Pliny, or Avec Les Bons Voeux.
Pliny is more broadly distributed now that RRBC has Windsor pumping out IPAs. Not sure where you are but you could probably get somebody to ship it to you along with the IMO superior Blind Pig.
Avec Les Bons Voeux is seasonal but anywhere that orders a lot of Dupont should get it in the fall or winter. Total Wine and grocery stores that stock imported beers often have it. If Whole Foods is in your area, sometimes they have it.
Westvleteren is still go to Belgium or order it from Belgium. You can order all three at times from some of the Belgian bottle shops but you should order a full box to make the freight cost a little more palatable. IMO also order enough to stash a few because they will improve with time.
Topic: Anchor Brewing Liquidating (Read 2752 times)
