Why Beer Fails

I’m brokenhearted as I write this. News broke out recently that Anchor Brewing in San Francisco is closing. Sit with this thought for a moment… Anchor Brewing, America’s first craft brewery, is closing… for good.?

First there was Fritz

Anchor Brewing opened 127 years ago. It nearly closed until a loyal customer with a few extra dollars in his pocket, Fritz Maytag, bought the brewery in 1965. He resuscitated it into the first craft brewery in America. During this time macro brewers and regional breweries offered any beer we wanted so long as it was yellow, fizzy, and nearly the same as everything else. Fritz went the other way and made beer with color and flavor amidst a post-prohibition, keep-up-with-the-Joneses culture that favored sameness. I imagine him alone pushing a keg of flavor up a giant hill with macro lovers pushing down against him. ?

Then there was Jack

Jack McAuliffe brewed his own beer while serving the Navy abroad in Scotland. He came home and, with a few others, opened New Albion Brewing in 1976. It didn’t stay open more than 6 years, but his beer helped bring a lot of drinkers to craft with Fritz. Many others opened. A number of them have closed.?

The Problem

Beer isn’t enough anymore. Many of these early breweries exploded with the success of craft beer and now suffer its mid-life crisis, turning into “beverage” companies that also make seltzers and Ready-To-Drink (RTDs) cocktails in a can. Styles that many of us cut our teeth on, like Ambers, Reds, and Browns, are commercially extinct.

For better or worse, in our social media-crazed culture, we demand something new and exciting every day. We’ve rejected the idea of savoring traditional beers, instead preferring something, anything different than what our parents and grandparents enjoyed.?

What concerns me the most is, while some of these traditional styles have been perfected over many generations, what kind of quality can we realistically expect from brewers who toss out something new every week? Because of this, I fear our collective sense of style and quality is also going extinct.

The Question

All of this begs a very simple question with large implications: “So what?”?

Many of us are sad to see Anchor Brewing and Steam Beer fall to extinction. But we voted with our dollars. When was the last time you bought a 6-pack of Steam Beer? It’s been a while for me. So, will we miss it when it’s gone, or will we miss knowing it’s there if we want it? The choice was ours, and we made it. The same goes for all the other beers we used to love, but haven’t asked for in years.

These are the once-loved teddy bears that now sit forgotten in an unlabeled box in the attic.?

The Solution

For better or worse, beer is changing, but this is on us. We did this. We choose which beer stays and which beer goes on a daily basis. And we either have to correct or accept the direction it goes. I just hope to God someone remembers that we consumers were the ones holding the steering wheel. ?

Your Brother in Beer,?

Jeremy Storton

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