Breweries
New Realm Brewing breaks ground in Suffolk, Virginia
New Realm Brewing broke ground on their newest location this week in Suffolk, Virginia. The brewery is adding a brewhouse and restaurant to the new Blue Point at the Riverfront Development.
The new build spans 6,000 square feet, and will include a 5-barrel brewhouse and scratch restaurant with a covered rooftop patio. Additionally, the location will have an 8,000-square-foot dog-friendly beer garden for patrons to enjoy.
New Realm Suffolk is a part a new 18-acre mixed-use development by the Miller Group, located in the Harbour View area of the city. The development is so named for the famous Blue Point Oysters found in nearby Nansemond and James Rivers.
RELATED: NEW REALM RELEASES COLLAB W/ ZILLACOAH
This New Realm’s second Virginia location, opened in 2018 not long after opening their flagship Atlanta, Georgia location.
New Realm Suffolk will bring at least 60 new jobs to the area. The facility is expected to open in spring, 2024.
Images: New Realm Brewing
Anchor Brewing closes after 127 years
Anchor Brewing Company, founded in 1896, is closing its doors for good.
Just about a month ago, Anchor announced Christmas Ale, a beloved seasonal that has been released continually for the last 47 years was no more. The move shocked much of the brewery’s fanbase.
Additionally, the brewery dropped distribution to 49 states, limiting sales to just California.
According to the brewery, the fallout from the pandemic, inflation, and the highly competitive market in Anchor’s hometown of San Franciso led to the difficult decision.
Sam Singer, a brewery spokesperson, tells Beer Street Journal that “Anchor has invested great passion and significant resources into the company. Unfortunately, today’s economic pressures have made the business no longer sustainable, and we had to make the heartbreaking decision to cease operations.”
In 2017, Japan’s Sapporo Holdings acquired the brewery.
Brewing Ends.
Anchor has officially stopped brewing beer. Any remaining beer will continue to be packaged and sold until the supply is depleted – which includes a small amount of Christmas Ale.
The Sell-Off.
Employees were informed of the closure on Tuesday, and were given 60 days with “transition support and separation packages.” Per Singer, Anchor is in the process of negotiating an arrangement with an Assignee to retain as part of a California Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (“CA ABC”), an alternative to filing for Court-monitored federal Chapter 7 or 11.
Under this process, Anchor will retain an Assignee to whom all its assets will be irrevocably assigned and then liquidated, the proceeds of which, the Assignee will use to pay off Anchor’s creditors. Once selected and retained, the CA ABC Assignee will be wholly responsible for liquidating the company’s assets and paying creditors.
Singer also mentioned Anchor, and presumably Sapporo, had been looking for a buyer the brewery and brands over the course of the last year, with no success.
Southern Tier Pumking makes its mid-July return
Southern Tier Pumking is usually the first pumpkin beer to hit shelves, typically right after Independence Day. You typically see it on shelves alongside the brewery’s pumpkin stout, Warlock. Pumking is one of the boldest (and highly debated) pumpkin beers across craft beer since debuting in 2007.
The 9% strong ale is brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, clove, and allspice. Each sip is an over-the-top fall beer that tastes like biting into pumpkin pie (crust included). Much to the chagrin of beer drinkers and their social media hatred of beer seasonal creep, Pumking really is the king one thing – it’s always the first pumpkin beer on shelves every season for the past few years. The brewery has not said if that helps beer sales or not.
In 2015, Pumking also shipped 12-ounce bottles, making the imperial pumpkin ale a little more manageable if you are flying solo.
In 2014, the brewery added Southern Tier Rum Aged Pumking,
Southern Tier Pumking is available in 12-ounce bottles, 22-ounce bottles, and draft through the fall.
Style: Pumpkin Beer (Allspice. Cinnamon. Clove. Nutmeg. Vanilla.)
Hops: Sterling, Magnum
Malts: 2 Row Pale, Caramel
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Latest Return: July 2023
9% ABV
Wild Heaven Beagle Party 2023
Second Self Beer to shut down June 17th
Atlanta, Georgia-based Second Self Beer will close its doors at the end of this month after 9 years of operation.
Second Self – situation on the city’s upper westside, was the 42nd brewery to open in the Peach State. The brewery had a geeky streak, releasing beers like Maverick & Gose (Top Gun) and Triforce IPA (a legend of Zelda nod.) As the years progressed, founders Jason Santamaria and Chris Doyle pivoted the brewery to be more than just beer, with the goal of being a full “beverage company.”
Second Self released “Cirrus,” a line of non-alcoholic CBD drinks, as well as taking on numerous contract brews and beverages for third-party companies.
That pivot was successful for a while until the challenge of the pandemic and rising costs forced the contracts to fold. That was a big financial hit for the brewery.
In a phone call, Santamaria told Beer Street Journal that in an effort to potentially save Second Self, the brewery cut their taproom hours, while Jason himself took himself off of the payroll going back to his previous role at IBM.
“Everything is just so much expensive, it just kept getting more complicated,” he says.
The brewery’s last day will be June 17th, open from 1-9 pm.
On a personal note – I want to say thank you to Jason and Chris. You both have been welcoming of Beer Street Journal even before the Second Self even opened to the public. It has been an honor and a downright freaking blast covering your releases over the years, not to mention canning days, tank pulls, and nerd trivia. You are some of the kindest people I have met in the beer industry. Legend of Zelda for life.
All images: Beer Street Journal
Anderby Brewing & Distilling announces closure
Anderby Brewing & Distilling, based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia announced they will close effectively July 3rd after five years of operation. According to an Instagram post announcement, revenues never reached the levels the brewery had hoped.
Unfortunately, due a variety of circumstances, revenues have never reached a level where our operation can sustain itself. We have personally given everything we have; money, sweat, tears, health, etc. to keep things going. While we know there are a lot of great things coming to our area that we were excited to be a part of, we have nothing left to give.
via Instagram
Anderby Brewing is another in a line of recent brewery closures in Georgia – including Orpheus Brewing, Burnt Hickory Brewing, Second Self Brewing, Tantrum Brewing, and Sabbath Brewing.
Anchor Brewing drops 49 states, ends Christmas Ale after 47 years
After years of national distribution, a heritage brand and legend in the beer industry will disappear from most of America this month. Anchor Brewing is drastically cutting its distribution footprint and cutting a famed Christmas seasonal release.
From now on, Anchor Brewing will only be available in California, where the brewery does 70% of its business.
“Tough economic realities”
Anchor and their external public relations teams were pretty terse on the root causes of this move, only stating that the cutting of America’s longest-running Anchor Christmas Ale was due to “time-intensive and costly brewing and packaging requirements.” Annual releases of Christmas Ale date back to 1975. Every single label since year one depicted a different hand-drawn tree, as well as a slightly different recipe every year.
There isn’t another Christmas beer in America that has been released annually longer than Anchor Christmas.
Anchor Brewing was founded in 1896, and saved from bankruptcy by Fritz Maytag in 1965. In 2017, Japan’s Sapporo Holdings acquired the brewery. Sapporo went on to acquire Stone Brewing as well in 2022.
Sam Singer, a representative for Anchor Brewing tells Beer Street Journal that the brewery will continue to take orders outside of California through 6/15/23. Any current “on order” product will ship through July 31, 2023.
A small amount of Anchor Christmas will be available on draft at Anchor Public Taps this coming season.
“A Ghost of Christmas Past”
Any mention of Anchor Christmas Ale has been scrubbed from Anchor’s website.
Image: Beer Street Journal
