Anchor Brewing, the Oldest Craft Brewer in the U.S., Will Close After 127 Years

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It survived San Francisco’s devastating 1906 earthquake, Prohibition and both world wars. But recent economic pressures proved too much for the oldest craft brewer in the country: After 127 years, Anchor Brewing Company is shutting down. In a statement released Wednesday, the company, founded in 1896, said that the impacts of the pandemic, inflation and a highly competitive market left it “with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations.” Employees were given 60 days’ notice and promised severance packages, the company said. Anchor added that although it had stopped brewing, it would continue packing and distributing beer while available. It will be sold on draft while inventory remains, it said. The brewer’s sales had been declining since 2016, and in 2017, the company was acquired for around $85 million by the Japanese beer giant Sapporo. “The stake through the heart of Anchor was the pandemic,” Sam Singer, a spokesman for the company, said by phone on Wednesday, noting that 70 percent of its product had been sold in restaurants and bars. In 2021, Anchor Brewing tried to adapt, rebranding and bottling and canning more of its beers to sell in grocery stores. But those changes “couldn’t make up for the significant loss of sales,” he added. In a last-ditch attempt to stay afloat, Anchor limited sales of its beer to California, and stopped producing one of its products, a Christmas ale.