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In the age of hyper-local craft, we have a competing\u2014or perhaps complementary?\u2014narrative in the U.S., and that\u2019s heritage brands.\xa0 You may have heard my counterpart, Matthew Curtis (who's based in London), mention the UK's traditional breweries more than once. It\u2019s an interesting dynamic having young, upstart craft brands entering the market alongside these elder statesmen who are sometimes hundreds of years old, and both sets of companies are trying to reach drinkers with a message about quality and craftsmanship.\xa0 To U.S. ears, it\u2019s a bit like listening in on a bizarro universe. We simply don\u2019t have much of that traditional brewery credibility left because of prohibition. Most U.S. drinkers only rewind the tape as far as Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams. If you're from Pennsylvania like me, you might think of Yuengling (founded in 1829). Or in Minnesota, perhaps Schell\u2019s comes to mind (founded in 1860). But those are the wonderful exceptions that prove the rule.\xa0By and large, the U.S. doesn\u2019t have a traditional brewing scene. One other exception, this time on the west coast, is Anchor Brewing Company. Founded in 1896, it\u2019s largely known for its Steam Beer, or the California Common, arguably the only wholly-American-invented style of beer. It even owns the trademark on that. It operated in regional obscurity for almost 100 years before Fritz Maytag bought it and saved it from closure. Without that beer, the story goes, breweries like Sierra Nevada may have never started. Anchor is still brewing its open fermentation beers, as well as many newer styles, in the location on Potrero Hill it moved to in 1979. But in 2010, it was purchased by The Griffin Group, an investment company specializing in alcoholic beverages.\xa0Shortly after, the brewery started distilling spirits.\xa0 Through all those years, the changes have been few, including the changes in brewmaster. And the latest shift in that role happened quite recently, leading to a host of new beer offerings that straddle the line between the traditional brewing approach of Anchor, and the constantly evolving craft beer industry of 2017.\xa0 Scott Ungermann has taken the weighty rings of this storied business and is combining his longstanding desire to have his own brewery with his experience at Anheuser-Busch to help bring Anchor along into the next generation ever so delicately.