A landmark company in San Francisco has turned off its taps. Anchor Brewing Co. officials announced early Wednesday that it will cease operations and liquidate the business.
My bad, turns out the breweries being too small was a figment of my imagination. I reread the original Reddit comment, and it only mentioned the facilities were outdated.
It looks like Sapporo was targeting 360,000 barrels by end of 2024, whereas Anchor Brewing’s expansion into Pier 48 would’ve brought the volume to 680,000 barrels. Anchor brewed 135,000 barrels in 2016 and it sadly dropped to only 65,000 barrels in 2023, which meant Anchor would’ve easily accommodated Sapporo’s volume.
I’ll edit the original comment.
Given that I can understand why Sapporo took the risk. They bought Anchor for 2.5 times sales at $85 million, when other breweries like Lagunitas was going for $1B. Sapporo likely thought they could’ve trimmed losses and made the money back in a few years, but sadly COVID happened, and Sapporo themselves are decreasing in value.
There’s a lot of interesting extra context, mostly as hearsay on Reddit SF (if you want to find it) and HN.
Basically it seems like:
Feels bad, Anchor was definitely one of my go-to basic beer from the grocery. Guess I’m getting more Fort Point now?
I can’t understand how they didn’t know the nature of the facility. You could see what a small a craft shop it was just by going on the tour.
My bad, turns out the breweries being too small was a figment of my imagination. I reread the original Reddit comment, and it only mentioned the facilities were outdated.
It looks like Sapporo was targeting 360,000 barrels by end of 2024, whereas Anchor Brewing’s expansion into Pier 48 would’ve brought the volume to 680,000 barrels. Anchor brewed 135,000 barrels in 2016 and it sadly dropped to only 65,000 barrels in 2023, which meant Anchor would’ve easily accommodated Sapporo’s volume.
I’ll edit the original comment.
Given that I can understand why Sapporo took the risk. They bought Anchor for 2.5 times sales at $85 million, when other breweries like Lagunitas was going for $1B. Sapporo likely thought they could’ve trimmed losses and made the money back in a few years, but sadly COVID happened, and Sapporo themselves are decreasing in value.