> Anchor was established in San Francisco in 1896 and was the country's first craft brewery.
So what definitions are being used here to claim this? Yuengling is quite a bit older, for example.
So what definitions are being used here to claim this? Yuengling is quite a bit older, for example.
When it started there were many small, local brewers making a variety of beers. Prohibition and changing tastes killed off most of the breweries — it helped to be above a certain size so you could profitable brew, say, malted syrups during prohibition. Those that remained after prohibition ended quickly consolidated — that’s how we got the oligopoly off Bud, Miller, and Coors.
Consolidation continues for decades afterwards of course; the brands that got rolled up into the conglomerates included a number of light lager breweries. What distinguishes Anchor from Yuengling and others is Anchor made something other than a light lager — they made steam beer, a warm-fermented lager that has some ale characteristics.
I would categorize it as “proto-craft,” since the real craft movement started in the 80s with Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams; Anchor was an inspiration, a holdover, and an anomaly.
(Most of my sources for this post are Celebrator beer magazine and a series of books I’ve read, but I don’t have them at my fingertips so I may have some specifics slightly wrong here, caveat emptor for reading random internet comments.)
I don't think there is a coherent definition of craft breweries that includes Anchor but not Yuengling
But, that term doesn’t have an official definition so they still can claim the title.
Now, maybe in terms of production methods, but I've consumed plenty of Bud and absolutely gallons of Yuengling, and Yuengling stands apart. It's not fancy, but it's good.
College parties in Rochester would usually include Labatt, Molson, Yuengling, and Genesee. Only the Yuengling was worthy as a drinking beer; Labatt and Molson were just for shotgunning & pong, and Genesee was for joking about what it did to your bowels.
I'm not saying you're for sure wrong, certainly some beers are distinguihsable from some other beers, but you might consider having someone do a blind taste test with you some day just for fun. I've made a number of friends angry when they tell me they like one particular vodka and I do a few triangle tests and show them that they can't actually tell one from another.