In 1871, Anchor’s first brewmaster—Gottlieb Brekle—transformed an old beer-and-billiards saloon into the American brewery that, twenty-five years later would be renamed Anchor.
No one knows why Baruth and Schinkel chose the name Anchor except, perhaps, for its indirect but powerful allusion to the booming Port of San Francisco. Their name, together with their locale in the working class neighborhoods south of Market Street, quickly made Anchor Steam® the beer of choice with the working man.
Easy to drink and great tasting, Anchor Steam® was preferred in an era when beer was considered just as much nutrition as it was a reward at the end of a hard day on the job.
