Fritz Maytag, the owner and face of Anchor Brewing from 1965 to 2010, stands with David Burkhart, ... [+]
David Burkhart was employee number 35. His career with Anchor Brewing — the 127-year-old brewery which ceased operations in 2023 — began on May 20, 1991 and ended on December 31, 2022, just a few months before the announced closure of the brewery.
Burkhart started on the bottling line, but over the years he held many positions at San Francisco’s most iconic brewery. It was the culture of the brewery and also its physical layout — the taproom, offices and even the lab overlooked the brewhouse — that encouraged every employee to learn everything about the brewery, always keeping the beer itself top of mind. Early in Burkhart’s career, Fritz Maytag, Anchor’s owner from 1965 to 2010, asked Burkhart to give tours. “People on the tour sometimes had questions I didn’t know the answer to,” says Burkhart. “But we were a small team and you were never far from a knowledgeable person.”
“Never be ashamed by your ignorance, just your lack of curiosity,” is a Fritz Maytag quote Burkhart is fond of and how Burkhart came to know just about everything about Anchor. Soon he began working side-by-side with Maytag on creating the brewery’s distinctive labels. “‘Handmade labels for handmade beers’ was our motto,” he remembers.
David Burkhart in the Anchor Brewhouse.
Burkhart was rewarded for his devotion to the brewery and its history when he became Anchor Brewing’s official historian in 2010. His work culminated in the publication of The Anchor Brewing Story, a 288-page devotional to San Francisco’s beloved brewer of Steam Beer. The book was Burkhart’s final project — one that took him five years — and was published in November 2022, immediately prior to Burkhart’s retirement. “I’ve been fascinated with the history of the brewery since Day 1,” says Burkhart. “My mission was to find out everything about it and what makes Anchor so special.”
“I’m so relieved the book came out before all this happened,” said Burkhart, of the announced closure of the brewery by its owner, Sapporo Breweries, which acquired Anchor in 2017. According to Burkhart, Anchor failed to flourish under Sapporo and when Sapporo announced its acquisition of San Diego’s Stone Brewing in 2022, rumors began swirling that Anchor’s time was short. “When you work in a small company, you know things,” says Burkhart.
But if Burkhart harbors any ill feelings toward Anchor’s most recent owners, he hides it well behind a veil of optimism. As author of Anchor’s history book, Burkhart has documented the many tribulations Anchor has survived. “With roots that extend all the way to the Gold Rush, the brewery has suffered many setbacks,” says Burkhart. “Earthquakes. Fire. Prohibition. Insolvency.”
“There have been a number of angels who saw the brewery through hard times,” says Burkhart. “There was Fred Kuh, owner of the Old Spaghetti Factory, whose only beer on tap was Anchor. He prepaid for his kegs to help the brewery with its cash flow.” And there was Maytag himself, who bought the brewery to save it in 1965, “and earned his wings by transforming it into the brewery that ignited the craft beer revolution. Let’s hope that this resilient cat still has a few lives left.”
On January 31, 2024, a group of former employees that was hoping to save the brewery announced via Instagram that it was not in a position to bid for Anchor. The employee group had been a public favorite to save Anchor and while the announcement came as bad news to those who supported the group, it was good news in the sense that the reason the employee group would not submit a bid is because it could not match the dollar value of other known bids from other groups.
“I can only say that I’ve talked at length with a few of the interested buyers,” says Burkhart. “My message to them was keep it small, keep it local, keep it traditional and keep it beautiful. I remain hopeful that there will be a thirteenth owner. Our brewery can again be what it once was.”
