Working in the dynamic environment at one of America’s craft brewing pioneers lends itself to having a unique cast of characters – new and old alike – who call Anchor home. The brewers may be the “magicians,” but there’s an entire team here at Anchor who are dedicated to upholding our high standards of craft brewing. In our series of “Anchor Profiles,” we sit down… read entire article
By Dave Burkhart, Anchor’s Design & Graphics Production Manager and Brewery Historian “California, noted Wallace Stegner, is like the rest of the United States—only more so.”–Kevin StarrMost of the books written about the ’49ers might as well be called Men of the Gold Rush. Men of California, Men Who Made San Francisco, California: Men and… read entire article
Bob Brewer takes you on the road for a three-part series of craft beer adventures. Beer fests, whisky fests, special events, trade shows and promos. Even a music festival or two. Anchor does them all. Whether they are nearby or somewhere else across the country, it takes some logistics to bring it together. When I… read entire article
Bob Brewer answers your questions about the world of beer & brewing. Marteinn (via Facebook): Hi there , may i ask where you get your bottles? I really like them and i want to use similar bottles for my future small brewery. Thanks. Bob: Our bottle story has a few interesting twists to it so… read entire article
Rob (via blog comment): How long can I age the annual Christmas Ale and still have it taste the way you would want it to taste? I have a few small 2013 bottles left from last year, and my local beer/ wine store still has some large 2013 bottles for sale? Still good? Bob: Around this time… read entire article
Working in the dynamic environment at one of America’s craft brewing pioneers lends itself to having a unique cast of characters – new and old alike – who call Anchor home. The brewers may be the “magicians,” but there’s an entire team here at Anchor who are dedicated to upholding our high standards of craft brewing. In our series of “Anchor Profiles,” we sit down… read entire article
A conversation with Anchor Brewmaster Mark Carpenter about Anchor’s first winter seasonal. For the first time in Anchor’s history, and the first time in the 40 years we’ve been brewing our annual Christmas Ale release, we’ve doubled down this year and introduced our newest seasonal beer, Anchor Winter Wheat™. We’ve been making wheat beers since the summer of 1984. They’ve… read entire article
By Dave Burkhart, Anchor Brewing Historian and Design & Graphics Production Manager ’Tis the season—of contractions like ’tis, of goodwill, of gift giving, of merriment, and, of course, of tradition. At Anchor, we’ve been celebrating the season with a longtime tradition of our own called Our Special Ale (also known as Anchor Christmas Ale). “Old… read entire article
Up the California coast about 70 miles north of San Francisco lays Fort Ross; a historic fort built by the Russian American Company over 200 years ago as a home base for Russia’s fur trade. This commercial company, commissioned by Russia’s tsarist government, managed all Russian exploration, trade, and settlement in the North Pacific. Fort… read entire article
A talk with Anchor Brewmaster Mark Carpenter about Zymaster Series No. 7: Potrero Hill Sour Mash IPA. The idea for the 7th beer in our Zymaster Series came about in a variety of ways. The first brainstorming session had the group involved leaning toward making some adaptation of a rye IPA. As Anchor Brewmaster Mark Carpenter pondered… read entire article
Question (via email): How can I order my favorite beer at my local bar and test to see if they’re serving it correctly? Am I getting the best possible product presentation? Bob: When ordering in a bar, there are several things to look for when being served up your favorite beer – or any beer for… read entire article
Bob Brewer shares his thoughts on pumpkin beers, fall seasonals, and the traditions of Halloween. Around this time of year we often get asked if we had ever thought about brewing a pumpkin beer. Well, actually we hadn’t, but plenty of other breweries have. Pumpkin beers are all the rage lately, and sell very well in some… read entire article
Question (via email): How do brewers get a beer to be dark and 4% alcohol but some beers are pale yellow and can be close to 10% ABV and higher? Where does the ABV come from? Bob: This question ties in with another closely related one which asks: Why do people assume that dark beer is heavy?… read entire article
Question (via email): Are there any trends in craft that you see that might have the popularity and durability of IPA? Bob: In my lengthy experience in the world of craft beer, I have seen many trends come, be the rage, and then fade. IPA, however, seems to be here for the foreseeable future. In… read entire article
Anchor brews flowed early and often as Day 2 of the Great American Beer Festival got underway. Friday evening is typically one of the livelier sessions, and this group of pirates kept the tradition alive. Bob Brewer is a fan of all things handmade, and Short’s Brewing Company’s unique tasting bar, built with recycled materials from a… read entire article
The 2014 edition of the Great American Beer Festival opened Thursday evening with thousands of craft beer enthusiasts enjoying over 3,500 beers from 700+ craft breweries. There were smiles all around as the beer started flowing at 5:30 sharp at the Anchor booth. While we certainly enjoy pouring Anchor brews for festival visitors, we’re also happy to… read entire article
Bob Brewer and co-pilot, John (also navigation and logistics technician), hit the road earlier this week for our annual road trip from San Francisco to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains for the Great American Beer Festival. The rest of the crew joined them in Denver on Wednesday and began preparing for the festivities. The setup is now… read entire article
Anchor employees recently continued their commitment to giving back to California State Parks with another successful volunteer day. This time we headed southwest of the City to Half Moon Bay State Beach. A cool, overcast morning transitioned to a warm, sunny afternoon as the Anchor team worked alongside Cal Parks staff to remove invasive plants from the… read entire article
Mike D. (via email): Hey Bob! I took the tour (loved it!) and was told that you guys use regular old San Francisco tap water. My question is about filtering the water. Do you not filter it because you don’t need to, or because you like some aspect of the water that you don’t want to… read entire article
We’ve had a ton of fun looking through the photos we’ve received all summer long for our Anchor Adventures Photo Contest. Before we get to the awards, we’d like to raise an Anchor and say, “Cheers!” to everyone who took the time to capture a summer adventure with an Anchor brew. We received over 200 entries from beautiful places across the… read entire article
