Anchor Brewing Co. cancels Christmas Ale, slashes distribution

Fans of Anchor Brewing Co. won’t be celebrating the holidays with the brewery’s annual limited-release Christmas Ale this year.

The 127-year-old San Francisco brewery, best known for its Anchor Steam Beer, announced this month that it will not be brewing its Christmas Ale this year. Additionally, the brewery will stop distributing its beers outside of California.

The company, which was purchased by Japan’s Sapporo Holdings Ltd. in 2017, cited economic factors including rising production costs and a competitive beer market, in its announcement.

“These were difficult decisions,” wrote Sam Singer, public relations spokesperson for the brewing company, in an email. “Anchor is a historic, influential and beloved San Francisco beer. We deeply value our relationships with our fans and with our dedicated employees.”

According to Singer, Anchor is scaling back distribution to solely California, which represents 70% of the brewery’s business. Up until now, Anchor was distributed in all 50 states.

While that distribution change will not affect Sonoma County customers, the brewery’s decision to cancel its Christmas Ale, a nearly half-century holiday tradition that features a new secret recipe and different festive hand-drawn tree label each year, is sure to elicit a few “humbug” responses from customers who look forward to the festive release.

According to Singer, the limited-edition ale’s time-intensive and costly brewing and packaging requirements were more than the company could financially handle in the wake of rising costs that "have made it challenging to continue operations as we do today.“

The good news, Singer wrote, is that there will be a small batch of Christmas Ale that will be available on draft at Anchor Public Taps, located at 495 De Haro Street, San Francisco, for visitors this season.

For more information, go to anchorbrewing.com.