American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Courtesy New Belgium Brewing)
The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening in the beer world while you were drinking your way through the weekend.
New Belgium Brewing Closes Its Ambitious San Francisco Taproom
The hits just keep coming for the San Francisco craft beer community.
In July Anchor Brewing, which almost singlehandedly ushered in the craft beer revolution when Fritz Maytag purchased a controlling interest in a dilapidated San Francisco brewery back in 1965, closed its doors. Anchor had been acquired by Sapporo in an $85 million dollar deal back in 2017. But after the Tokyo Japan-headquartered company purchased Stone Brewing in 2022, it clearly lost interest in its San Francisco property.
Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing, which had been purchased by a major Australian-based beverage company, Lion, (a subsidiary of another Japanese brewing giant Kirin), in 2012, announced it has ceased operations at its Mission Bay brew pub and restaurant. No doubt the Covid shutdown played a part in the ambitious taproom’s February 1 closure, as did inflation and the rising costs of business in general.
The press release did state the brewery had “suffered financially in recent years.”
“The San Francisco community has welcomed us with open arms, and we have greatly enjoyed being able to share a beer over the years,” New Belgium’s recently appointed CEO Shaun Belongie told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Words to Drink By
“‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin, English naturalist, geologist and biologist
BrewDog Story Goes Hollywood
BrewDog Co-Founder and CEO recently took to social media to announce that beer and film fans could soon watch the brewery’s origin story play out on the big screen.
Although BrewDog began as a Scottish garage brewery in 2007, what Watt started along with co-founder, Martin Dickie, has grown into an international drinks maker that now employs over 2,000 team members and has over 100 bars all over the planet.
Writing on LinkedIn, Watt said the film had a working title of Underdogs: The Rise of BrewDog.
This from his announcement…
“It has been so exciting to work with such talented people on the script of this amazing new movie. Since Martin & I started BrewDog, both just aged 24, the journey has been remarkable – high highs, low lows, failures, successes and a healthy dose of controversy along the way.”
“We can’t wait to bring the story to the big screens.
“Watch this space!”
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