Locals say Anchor beer sale sad but not earth shattering

Resignation, rather than outrage, was the dominant tone of the reaction to Thursday morning’s news that San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing has been sold to Japan’s Sapporo Holdings Ltd.

“Wow, one of the first OG (original) craft brewers selling out,” Robby Lucido responded to The Chronicle’s tweet linking to the story. “Can't hate on capitalism but it's a smart move these days.”

Many in the beer industry look to Anchor Brewing as an icon and leader; Fritz Maytag, who purchased the company in 1965, transformed it into the first modern craft brewery in the United States. Several commented that a sale seemed a distinct possibility after Maytag sold it to the Griffin Group, a San Francisco investment firm, in 2010.

Regan Long, head brewer of Local Brewing Company in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, said she was surprised but not shocked by the announcement. “I’m in this industry every day, and things are changing so rapidly and it’s so competitive. Anchor probably wants to bring their brand to the next level.”

For others, the sale seems like a sign of a changing of the guard, or at least a shift in trendiness.

“If you go to the hip beer bars around the Bay Area, you never see Anchor anywhere,” said Collin McDonnell, co-founder of the Santa Rosa-based HenHouse Brewing. “Likely, the same people who would be annoyed with Anchor selling to Sapporo are the people who would go to those bars where they’re not giving money to Anchor.”

Will Anchor still be considered a local beer if the profits flow to Japan? Trac Le, alcohol buyer for Bi-Rite Market, which showcases local food and beverage producers, said he will continue stocking the shelves with Anchor’s flagship brew “unless the quality of the Anchor Steam goes down.”

“We understand that local people are still working on Anchor,” he added. “We want to support the people who work there.”

Yet the San Francisco Brewers Guild, which represents 33 craft breweries in the Bay Area and coordinates the popular annual San Francisco Beer Week, announced several hours after the news broke that Anchor Brewing would have to leave the guild once the sale was finalized.

According to the organization’s bylaws, member breweries must produce less than 6 million barrels of beer a year, and the ownership by non-craft-beer companies must be limited to 25 percent. Sapporo is slated to own all of Anchor Brewing.

“It will be beyond sad not to count Anchor Brewing Co. as a member, given their rich heritage both in the craft beer industry and San Francisco,” the guild’s director, Joanne Marino, stated in the release.

It remains to be seen if beer drinkers are paying as much attention as the industry. “I think it’s going to be interesting to see the response from customers and how people react,” Long said. “It’s a pretty notable moment.”

At least one commenter on Reddit’s /r/beer discussion board is giving the brewery the benefit of the doubt. “I'd rather know that I'll always have Anchor Steam than worry that they could disappear at any moment,” the writer stated. “I want to have an Anchor when I go to Swan Oyster Depot.”

Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jonkauffman