Monday, 26 April 2010

Anchor's Away

To continue the nautical theme, news is leaking from the States that Anchor has been sold.

It would appear one of the people involved some of you might have met at BrewDog's Equity for Punks launch in London, Keith Greggor, who made his name in the drinks industry with Skyy Vodka and has invested heavily in the Fraserburgh-based brewery.

The issue that is causing some ill-ease is not so much the news, because it would appear that there is a commitment from both Greggor & his partner Tony Foglio to stay true to boutique brands, but how it was leaked, as the lovely Jay Brooks points out on his blog here.

However, it is also reported that Fritz Maytag has been made Chairman Emeritus of Anchor Brewers & Distillers, which means the man with the vision is still involved in the business and will continue to be until he drops I would imagine.

Either way I didn't pick up on this story early enough to make any calls to the States but I will be emailing Greggor at my earliest available opportunity to see whether he'll make any comment.

All in all I wouldn't suggest it's time to launch the lifeboats yet but the bizarre way in which the news was released has understandably worried a lot of the American beer writing press and beer fans.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give Mr. Maytag his due - he has created great brews and is a legend in the craft beer movement. Do you really think he'd release this big news through blogs????? The news was clearly leaked.

Sid Boggle said...

There's still nothing "official" but the SF Chronicle are reporting it online, with quotes attributed to both parties.

I'm a bit worried about what Griffin means when they say "expand" the brand. I suppose we'll have to wait and see...

Melissa Cole said...

@Anonymous, I believe I used the word 'leaked' at least twice in this article. And all I did was repeat consternation at the way the news was released caused.

It's really very early in the morning for such ire is it not?

@Sid, I asked around about Greggor after the BD thing and people seem to think he's got a genuine commitment to quality products with quality ingredients, but we'll have to wait and see, as with all things like this sadly!

Leigh said...

...Like I said on the other blog, I don't think they'll change things up too much. Steam beer is still very much the creation of Anchor, and with Maytag's ongoing involvement, I think the future is stable, at least. I don't care how the info gets out!!

Melissa Cole said...

@Leigh I think it's a journalist thing, and I don't mean that egos were bruised but that when things don't come through ordinary channels and no one is communicating you immediately think that they don't want to/aren't prepared to answer the hard questions that inevitably come with a move like this.

I'm not personally that worried but will be interested to see what sort of brand extensions are planned, as they were hinted at so strongly.

Cooking Lager said...

Fingers crossed for a multi national willing to flog big boxes in Tesco for tuppance!

The can get the costs down through rice & maize and flog it for buttons.

Melissa Cole said...

Missed you Cookie!

Sid Boggle said...

@Cookie: forgot to say over the road - none of their beer is grog or lout.

MicMac said...

@SidBoggle - actually Anchor Steam is brewed with lout yeast, but not at proper lager temperatures, so it's not authentic louty loveliness ;~P