Fritz Maytag sells his brewery – Comment
Now if there’s a term Mr Maytag would never have used it is “centre of excellence”. Mr Maytag was an entrepreneur, a brewer, a distiller, a winemaker, a lover of craft. While he could talk enthusiastically about beer, business school jargon would never drip from his lips. After all, he has kept his business small(ish), manageable and private.
No terms were disclosed for the sale of the 70-person, 110,000 hl Mariposa Street brewery and distillery that traces its roots to the Gold Rush.
Mr Maytag, who became involved with Anchor Brewing in 1965 when his investment saved the struggling brewery from bankruptcy, inspired many followers including Ken Grossman, who founded the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico in 1980.
Born into a Midwestern family that made its fortune with washing machines, Mr Maytag came to the Bay Area to study at Stanford University, but dropped out of graduate school in 1965 to become first a partner and later the owner of Anchor Brewing, a brewery which traces its roots back to the 19th century.
Over the first 15 years, Mr Maytag struggled to raise the quality and consistency of his beers and find consumers willing to buy it at a premium. By the 1980s consumers had begun to develop a taste for Mr Maytag’s vision of craft-made beers, which meant he faced a capacity shortage. He considered going public to raise the capital, but rejected the idea because he didn’t want the kind of growth he would have had to pursue if he took on investors. Size, he said in an interview, was the enemy of quality.
Never tardy, Maytag founded a distillery in 1993 that led to the revival of craft-made spirits.
The new owners, Keith Greggor, 55, and Tony Foglio, 64, are two veterans of the spirits industry. They left their mark on the premium vodka brand Skyy when they took over its management and increased the company tenfold, before selling it to the Campari Group in 2007.
As concerns Anchor, they say they plan to expand Anchor Brewing’s operations and capitalise on the firm’s reputation to increase their footprint in distinctive beers and spirits.
Through their Griffin Group investment company, Mr Greggor and Mr Foglio have already acquired Preiss Imports, a 14-person San Diego firm that specialises in fine spirits. They also have a minority interest in BrewDog, an independent brewery in Scotland, and hope to make that brew locally.
Not part of the deal is Mr Maytag’s Californian winery, York Creek, which he started several decades ago.
Apparently, Mr Maytag has finally decided that one fermentation enterprise is enough.