A month ago, a shock was felt in craft beer as Anchor Brewing, the venerable San Francisco brand that was many individuals first craft beer that opened them to the genre announced they were ceasing national distribution and receding to the comfortable California borders where their brand was more entrenched.
Less than a few weeks later Sapporo, the multi-national conglomerate, announced the Anchor brewing operation was closing permanently.
This sent mature craft consumers who still romanced this brand (that from a sales perspective have shown the market isn’t supporting) to the shelves to buy up remaining stock, and to the soapboxes to fire up spicy posts about consumers today.
I like the idea of what Ken Schramm is trying to communicate here. It’s well intentioned in a week with plenty of bad takes following the fall of Anchor. I personally enjoy a Bell’s Two Hearted, typically while I’m out at a restaurant, bar or ball game.
With that said, I don’t think any business owner has sustained long term success by telling the market “stop, you’re consumering wrong!”
Ken blames the Untappdification and consumers always wanting new as a bug ruining the industry. I think he fails to grasp that Untappd is a subset of craft drinkers. not exclusively the whip driving demand.
The ‘gotta catch em all’ vibe Untappd may have spawned has caused some breweries who may have never had a chance to stand out in a crowded marketplace to have some measure of accomplishment. What Ken’s missing is that Untappd behavior isn’t driving the decline of beer, it’s the contraction of the industry as consumers who were into it moved on to other things.
Losing Anchor strikes our collective nostalgia bone. Seemingly more so for older people who’ve been drinking longer. But that same sensation these individuals are experiencing now has caught people who drank Tallgrass for years, or Ale Asylum.
The romanced brand Ken recognizes here was sold to an investment firm 13 years ago who flipped it to a corporation. This brand was a line item on a list of liabilities that were once assets. Nothing more. Dwelling on the loss of this brewery while furrowing a brow at consumers and subtly telling us ‘this is our fault’ just reeks of boomer nostalgia for the times they seem to think were better.
As I reflect on my own beer purchases, I find myself preferring to support smaller creators, or local creators of comparable products than prop up a brand whose ownership ditched it long ago. If I have to choose, I’d rather pick up Foreign Exchange, Maplewood, and Mikerphone more than Great Divide, Deschutes, or Oskar Blues. I’d rather enjoy some Vitamin Sea, Wax Wings, or Green Cheek, over Harpoon, Sam Adams, Cigar City.
Anyone shouting that down is simply telling you how out of love they’ve fallen whether it is their profession or their hobby. Craft beer has always been changing since its leap into mainstream culture, and it always will.
Koel Story Bro 