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"FacebookPinterestanchorhummingale.png\n\nAnchor Brewing is famous for one beer: Steam. Most people even think the brewery called Anchor Steam. It's not. But Anchor trademarked the name Steam and anyone else who makes that style of beer\u2014an amber lager fermented warm to give it the richness of an ale\u2014has to call it a California Common. Anchor didn't invent the style, but they made it famous. The story is legend: In 1965, Fritz Maytag (yes, that Maytag) bought a derelict San Francisco brewery making a nearly forgotten style of beer. It was one of the first small breweries to open in the US since Prohibition, and today it's one of the biggest. Last week  Maytag sold it to the Griffin Group investment corporation.\n\nIn a time-honored beer paradox, the new brewers always fight tradition, but drinkers value both. Anchor was old when it started\u2014the brewery Maytag bought opened in 1896\u2014and the more things changed, the more they didn't. \"We built a new brewery in 1977,\" Maytag said, \"and there was nothing more traditional, and nothing more modern in the country. We had big copper kettles, but we were using stainless steel valves and fittings before the beer and wine industries caught on.\"\n\nToday, that system has been running for 30 years. To celebrate, Anchor brewed a new beer\u2014their first since 2005\u2014with some of the trendiest hops around, New Zealand Nelson Sauvins. (It's a cycle: Anchor's 5th anniversary beer was one of the first wheat beers ever brewed in America; their 10th anniversary was a 5,000-year-old Sumerian recipe.)\n\nAll Anchor beers have a similar vibe: I've heard them called salty, and that's close. They have body without being heavy; they're filling, but give it five minutes and you'll want another one. (That's not a bad thing.) What makes Humming Ale unique are those hops: They give it a refreshing, savignon-blanc edge of berry and passionfruit. It's delicious, but it doesn't make a statement\u2014which is pure Anchor. They company is, at its heart, conservative, which is what made it such an attractive target for buyers. Twice as old as most craft breweries, Anchor isn't a scrappy little guy anymore, and with craft beer booming, the operations that are small won't be for long. \"There are 1,500 small breweries in the U.S.,\" Maytag said. \"I think that's too many, don't you? That's a lot of excess capacity and excess energy. These guys aren't goofballs\u2014these are serious brewers\u2014and it's very likely there'll be partnerships.\"\n\nAs for Humming Ale, get it while you can. There's no word on whether it'll be the same beer next year. \"It's not my brewery anymore,\" Maytag said. \"Wait and see. We're good at change.\"\n\nFor more beer news and reviews, follow @beercraftbook."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/the-draft-anchors-new-beer-and-new-owners>