Two weeks ago, the news started to leak that the owner of Anchor Brewing, Sapporo was re-trenching the distribution of the beer back to California.
An understandable move and one that might have blipped into a news feed and then been pushed aside by a politician saying something stupid or the latest Tik Tok craze.
But that was not all that was announced. There will be no Christmas Ale in 2023. After 48 years, there will not be a beautifully drawn tree on a label during the holidays.
Did I expect that there would always be an Anchor Christmas Ale, yes. Was that realistic? No. But you think that Sapporo would have given the beer an epic send-off. Or brewed it for two more years to reach the 50 year mark. Are there no marketers left?
Economics is not just demand, it is supply and demand. You could bring back Christmas Ale and say it is the last year for it and you will probably sell it all and probably sell it at a higher mark-up. I will not believe that Sapporo doesn’t have enough loose change in the couch cushions to do a final bottling run. Even a small one for magnums only.
If I was a smaller brewer, I would start working on a replacement Christmas beer. I can imagine some pointed names for the beer would practically write themselves.