Anchor Brewing Co (San Francisco, CA) is launching Anchor California Lager®, California’s first genuine lager reborn, in the UK market. Anchor California Lager will be available through partnership with speciality beer importers James Clay.
“Our first release of this historical brew was immensely popular with the public and also with our Anchor employees,” said Keith Greggor, CEO of Anchor Brewing Company. “From day one, Anchor California Lager resonated with us not only because of its distinctive flavour, but also because of the rich brewing history that it celebrates.”
In February 2013, Anchor California Lager was bottled for distribution in California only. “Anchor California Lager has been selling beyond our expectations since its launch,” said Keith Greggor, CEO of Anchor Brewing Company. “We are very excited to offer it in several more markets so that beer-lovers can enjoy this uniquely Californian creation.”
Anchor Steam’s® roots go back to the Gold Rush, long before icehouses and modern refrigeration made traditional lagers a viable option. In 1876—thanks to an ice pond in the mountains and a belief that anything is possible in the Golden State—a little brewery named Boca created California’s first genuine lager. Anchor California Lager is our re-creation of this historic beer.
Made in San Francisco with two-row California barley, Cluster hops (the premier hop in 19th-century California), and the breweries own lager yeast, Anchor California Lager is kräusened and lagered in the breweries cellars. This all-malt brew is a delicious celebration of California’s unique brewing heritage.
The California grizzly bear on our Anchor California Lager label is from a woodcut by Durbin Van Vleck (1833–1898), courtesy of The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. First published in 1856 in San Francisco, it is a superbly crafted rendering of an original illustration by Charles Christian Nahl (1818–1878), who had painted both eastbound and westbound versions of this bear. Nearly a century later, Nahl’s bear served as inspiration for the design of the bear on California’s modern state flag. Although that bear is heading west, our bear—like the bear on Boca Brewing’s historic lager label—is heading east.
Anchor California Lager (4.9% ABV) is unique. Crisp, clean, and refreshing, its rich golden colour, distinctive aroma, lingering creamy head, balanced depth of flavour, and incredibly smooth finish are like no other lager today.
Anchor California Lager is now available year-round in 355ml bottles, as well as on draught at select bars, restaurants, and retailers.
Anchor California Lager previously had been distributed exclusively within California. From October 2013, Anchor California Lager will expand its distribution outside of California to the UK.
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About Anchor Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Company’s roots date back to the California Gold Rush making it one of America’s oldest breweries. Its Anchor Steam® Beer is San Francisco’s original since 1896. In 1965, Fritz Maytag acquired and revived the struggling brewery at a time when mass production of beer dominated and seemed unstoppable. Maytag started a revolution in beer that originated today’s craft beer movement. An undisputed icon, Anchor is America’s first craft brewery where beers are handmade in our traditional copper brewhouse from an all-malt mash. At Anchor, we practice the time-honoured art of classical brewing, employing state-of-the-art methods to ensure that our beers are always pure and fresh. We know of no brewery in the world that matches our efforts to combine traditional, natural brewing with such carefully applied, modern methods of sanitation, finishing, packaging and transporting. See what we are brewing today at www.anchorbrewing.com.
About James Clay
James Clay are the UK’s leading importer of Craft and Specialist beers from the United States, Europe and beyond. James Clay, based in West Yorkshire, distribute to the trade nationally.
Images accompanying this release are available by emailing marketing@jamesclay.co.uk