Iconic Illustrated Anchor Steam Labels Appear Headed for Revival

“It makes sense that they’re going with the old labels because of that huge backlash when we did rebrand,” said Patrick Costello, who previously worked at the Anchor brewery. “Some people might think that it’s not a big deal, but it really was one of the nails in the coffin for us.”

After 127 years of brewing beer in San Francisco, Anchor closed its doors in 2023, leaving many fans lamenting the loss of one of the city’s legacy businesses and early leader in the craft beer scene.

In the years since, Costello and other former Anchor brewery workers have remained eager to get back to business. In December 2023, some formed the Anchor SF Cooperative and attempted to buy back the brewery from the Japanese beer giant Sapporo, which bought Anchor in 2017.

Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya later bought Anchor Brewing in 2024 and promised to revive the company. But any movement toward reopening has been slow and quiet. Ulukaya did not immediately respond to a request for comment this week when KQED reached out to Anchor Brewing.

More recent clues suggest that the business is active, however.

Anchor Brewing has received approval for two separate labels, one for the Anchor Steam Beer and another for the company’s Old Foghorn ale, filings from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau show.

The labels both use the original art by Jim Stitt, who designed Anchor’s beer labels for 45 years.

The old-fashioned branding is reminiscent of the early port shipping days in San Francisco, with anchor emblems and vintage fonts. “It’s a classic. Everybody knows Anchor Brewing because of the Steam beer and Foghorn,” said Costello, noting that one of his favorites doesn’t appear on the list of labels the company recently applied for. “I might have gone with the porter.”

Rumors have swirled online about seeing people inside the old Anchor brewery in Potrero Hill. On June 19, Ulukaya posted a photo of himself watching a World Cup match from inside the Anchor taproom to his personal Instagram account.

Costello, who now works for a brewery in Alameda, said he hadn’t been aware of the label approvals but was excited to see some movement. Several Anchor brewery alumni recently gathered at the San Francisco bar Buzzworks to rally support for their union, which was part of ILWU Local 6.

Costello said he and several former workers said they are open to returning, and they held the event to drum up energy behind their efforts to return as a unionized brewery.

Anchor Steam beer is hard to come by these days with production on hiatus, but Costello said the bar owner pulled out a reserved case for the event.

He added that the former workers have not received any direct communications from Ulukaya.

“Workers are still here, and we’re still ready to take our jobs back and ready to get to work,” Costello said. Other former workers have also moved in different directions, but Costello said there is plenty of interest among former brewery workers in coming back and excitement for taps to turn on again.

On Thursday, Anchor’s Potrero Hill building was quiet. But a couple of cars were in the parking lot, and behind a chain-linked fence surrounding the taproom, lights were on inside and loading dock doors were wide open.

“It feels like it’s going to happen pretty soon,” Costello said.