The Constant Evolution of Hotaling & Co. W R I T T E N B Y M A R G A R ET T WAT E R B U RY
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f 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that change is the only constant. That lesson isn’t news to Hotaling & Co. Founded as Anchor Distilling Company in 1993, Hotaling & Co. has spent the last 27 years in a state of near-constant evolution. Today, it’s a leader in American craft distilling, one of the nation’s best wine and spirits importers, and a brand-builder piloting some of the most storied names in American whiskey. And it’s managed to pull it all off from a space where Anchor Brewing Company’s staff used to shoot hoops. WWW.ART ISANSP IRITMAG.COM
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P H O T O G R A P H Y P R O V I D E D B Y H O TA L I N G & C O.
Hotaling & Co.’s story begins in 1965, when Fritz Maytag decided to add a new industry — brewing — to his family’s legacy in home appliances and cheese. He purchased a majority share of the historic Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California. Originally founded in 1896, Anchor Brewing Company had endured two world wars and American Prohibition, but by the mid-1960s, dwindling demand for flavorful brews had left the brewery on its last legs. Maytag had a vision: to revive the historic steam beer style of San Francisco, a
bottom-fermented lager made without true refrigeration. In a world of increasingly bland macro-lagers, this flavor-forward beer would later be seen as one of the opening salvos of the American craft brewing industry. That achievement only whet Maytag’s appetite for oddball flavors, forgotten styles, and old-fashioned recipes. So in 1993, he started another project dedicated to bringing flavor back to American drinks. Maytag pulled aside a brewer named Bruce Joseph, who’d started at Anchor Brewing Company in 1980, and asked if he’d ever 87