Anchor Brewing, America's First Craft Brewery

The roots of Anchor Brewing go back to 1849 and the California gold rush. Gottlieb Breckle, a German brewer arrived in San Francisco with his family. In 1871 he bought an old beer and billiards saloon near Russian Hill in San Francisco for $3,500. He transformed this into a brewery that would be renamed Anchor, 25 years later. The name changed in 1896 when Ernst F. Baruth with his son-in-law purchased it. In 1906 Anchor suffered some major blows. Ernst died and two months later the Anchor was destroyed in a fire that started due to San Francisco's great earthquake. As the Brewery was close to reopening in 1907 the son-in-law was ran over by a street car. The brewery opened with the help of two other German brewers and a liquor store owner. Then came prohibition and the wait for Anchor. In 1933 current owner Joe Kraus began brewing. Another fire would derail Anchor the following February. He reopened in a brick building just a few blocks away from the current location. Joe Allen was a partner and kept the beer flowing after Joe Kraus died in 1952. Anchor would close the doors in 1959. It reopened in 1960, but struggled to get back many of their local customers. In 1965 Fritz Maytag bought 51% of the brewery, it was his favorite beer. He only paid $1,000.00 for his share. In 1971 Fritz began bottling Anchor Steam, the first bottled Anchor in modern times. By 1975 the brewery had started producing Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale, Anchor Porter, Liberty Ale, and their first annual Christmas Ale. Anchor outgrew the building and on August 13^th 1979 they brewed the first Anchor Steam at their current location, which is on Mariposa Street. In 2010 Fritz retired and sold the Brewery to Keith Greggor and Tony Foglio.

Anchor Brewing was one of the first craft beers that G&M carried.

G&M started selling Anchor years ago. The date is unknown, but Brent remembers it being here when he started. Some people say that Anchor is the founder of craft beer in America, it would be hard to argue that with Anchor's rich history dating back to 1849. With the craft beer craze Anchor sometimes gets passed over for one of the "new" craft beers and their outrageous packaging. G&M carries the Anchor Steam, Liberty, Porter and Old Foghorn (drink this one with caution 8-10%). We also bring in the Christmas Ale when it is made available to us. They change the Christmas Ale recipe every time they brew it and it features a different tree on the label each year. If you are a fan of great tasting beer make sure you pick up a six pack of Anchor.

The first picture is of their copper brewhouse, 2^nd picture is of original brewery, 3^rd picture is brewmaster hand crafting Anchor.

Information from Anchor Brewing website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/