RIP Anchor Brewing

I was sad to see the news about Anchor Steam, but honestly, my first thought was "Oh no, I like that beer! I haven't had one in ... a long, long time." I guess my instinct has been to pick a local brew ahead of something from the coast. It's not 2000. It's a damn competitive world for microbrews these days, between powerhouse coast-to-coast "micros" like New Belgium and local micros at every store.

 

That is absolutely correct. An IPA is way, way easier to make.

 

In Rochester they'd call that the beer-making equivalent of a garbage plate.

 

IPAs just plain suck.

Lagers, especially in the summer, all day long.

 

Walked through the beer aisle during lunch today and all the Anchor Steam was gone. Even our wine guy was astounded.

 

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but these younger folks drinking all this seltzer shit isn’t helping the micro beer market either.

And I blame all the IPA-2x-3x focus for that too. Those are more calories. And along comes seltzers… to offer lower cal options.

It’s amazing to see seltzers go from just one tap at a joint to several, and the ensuing reorganization of shelf, floor and refrigerator space in stores.

I go into some stores and look around and think “fuck”.

 

Went through the store this afternoon and peeked just to see. All the Anchor stuff was gone.

 

A lot of breweries are now brewing their own hard seltzers to capture the non-beer people who come with their friends. Smart move.

 

I have beers I can drink to be social. When I tried a Summer Shandy at the minor league park this spring, it was the first time I ever finished a beer and strongly considered ordering another. Some of us are not cut out for the hops life.

 

Lagers are frowned upon for a bunch of reasons. Homebrewing and craftbtewing came out of UK beer culture, which is ale. Macros were all lager, which was seem as the enemy. It's much cheaper to brew an ale. You don't have to keep the temperature down and it takes half as long. There is more to do with ale, also

 

A Leinie's shandy is a staple of my summers.

 

I remember drinking an original Leinenkugel's from Chippewa Falls, Wis, in the '70s. It induced a brain-splitting headache.

Of course the current Leinie's is a boutique brand for MillerCoors. Miller brews a lot of Leinie's at a high-tech automated brewery in Milwaukee. It's a macro masquerading as a craft beer.

The brewery workers at Leinie's Chippewa Falls plant just went on strike, BTW.