A lot of Sapporo's acquisitions over the past few decades seem to indicate they prioritize strategic supply chain access over anything else. And that makes sense. It's easier to buy an established brewery with established supply chains and market access in a foreign country and use that as a boardwalk into the market rather than trying to figure it out from scratch. And Sapporo has clearly done well.
But I can't see what they're getting out of owning a brewery in San Francisco in this day and age. Globally, beer consumption is way down. They're already supplying most of their addressable American market with beer they produce in and export from Canada. It makes sense to me that they'd want to cut their losses here.
And as decent as Anchor has been, it's a wildly saturated market out there. Unless SF makes a U-turn recovery in the next year or two I can't really see how this ends well for Anchor.
But I can't see what they're getting out of owning a brewery in San Francisco in this day and age. Globally, beer consumption is way down. They're already supplying most of their addressable American market with beer they produce in and export from Canada. It makes sense to me that they'd want to cut their losses here.
And as decent as Anchor has been, it's a wildly saturated market out there. Unless SF makes a U-turn recovery in the next year or two I can't really see how this ends well for Anchor.