Anchor Steam Beer Is Coming Back With Its Classic Look After a Disastrous Rebrand

A San Francisco Icon Reclaims Its Identity

America's first modern craft brewery is bringing back its iconic look after a rebrand fizzled. Anchor Brewing has received federal approval for two separate labels — one for Anchor Steam Beer and another for the company's Old Foghorn ale — according to filings from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The move signals that one of California's most storied breweries may be on the verge of a genuine comeback, and that the people behind it have learned a painful lesson about messing with a beloved brand.

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. For longtime fans, seeing those images again carries real emotional weight — a visual shorthand for something authentic that was nearly lost forever.

How a Rebrand Helped Sink a 127-Year-Old Brewery

In 2021, Anchor Brewing announced a major makeover of their logo and beer labels. After being in business for over 127 years, the beer company had to close after struggling to stay afloat amid declining sales and rising costs of operations. The timing was brutal, and many who loved the brand were not shy about assigning blame.

Several bartenders and customers said another death knell for Anchor came in the form of the controversial 2021 rebrand that changed the label on bottles and cans from its classic logo — which had remained largely unchanged since the 1970s — to the current one, which some said was reminiscent of Twisted Tea or IKEA logos. The rebrand was a Sapporo decision to appeal to a wider consumer base that also alienated some Anchor beer fans.

Former brewery employee Patrick Costello put it bluntly. "It makes sense that they're going with the old labels because of that huge backlash when we did rebrand," Costello said. "Some people might think that it's not a big deal, but it really was one of the nails in the coffin for us."

New Owner, Old Soul

After buying the historic brewery in 2024, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya vowed to restore Anchor's beloved branding. The Turkish-born billionaire also purchased the brewery's 2.17-acre Potrero Hill campus, fueling hopes that the landmark San Francisco taproom will reopen.

Rumors have swirled online about people being spotted 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. The Potrero Hill building has otherwise been quiet, but a couple of cars have been spotted in the parking lot, and behind a chain-linked fence surrounding the taproom, lights were on inside and loading dock doors were wide open.

Workers Ready, City Watching

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 former workers are open to returning. "Workers are still here, and we're still ready to take our jobs back and ready to get to work," he said.

Nearly fifty years of Jim Stitt's hand-illustrated equity was overwritten in 2021, followed by two years of declining shelf presence, then a closure that staff first heard about from a press release. The label approvals alone don't guarantee that Anchor Steam will flow again — but they are the clearest sign yet that whoever is steering this revival understands exactly what made the brand worth saving in the first place. The question now is whether the beer will follow.