Join journalists Kate Bernot (Good Beer Hunting, Craft Beer & Brewing) and Dave Infante (Fingers, VinePair) for a freewheeling conversation about Sapporo USA’s decision to shutter Anchor Brewing Co. in July 2023, after less than six years at the helm.

Expect discussion of their reporting on the company and its closure, a review of Anchor’s considerable legacy, and most importantly, an interrogation of why news of this one brewery’s demise inspired such an emotional outpouring from drinkers across the country and around the world.

If Anchor was more than a business, what is the responsibility of its customers? If breweries are part of our shared civic culture, should we assess their value in extra-economic terms? Why do we feel so weirdly about the end of Anchor’s era? Together in dialogue, Bernot and Infante will explore these themes and more.

Kate Bernot is a reporter and editor covering the beer industry for Good Beer Hunting, Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine, and other outlets. She was previously the beer editor at DRAFT Magazine and is a BJCP-certified beer judge. She lives in Missoula, Montana.

Dave Infante is a two-time James Beard award-winning journalist who publishes Fingers, an independent newsletter about drinking in America. He also works as a contributing editor and columnist at VinePair, where he publishes the weekly beer-industry column Hop Take, and produces and hosts the beer history podcast Taplines. His reporting has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, The Guardian, MEL Magazine, Fast Company, PUNCH, and others. He can be found on Twitter (@dinfontay) and Instagram (@its.fingers). He lives in Richmond, Virginia. 

Photo Source: Christina B Castro (Flickr / Creative Commons)