The 2.17-acre property that housed SF's historic property for 44 yrs "officially hit the market" yesterday, SF Chronicle wrote last night. Sapporo Holdings LTD is "seeking $40 million, including 2 buildings totaling about 109K sq ft. But Anchor brand isn't included in price tag. Sapporo paid about $85 mil for Anchor in 2017, Chronicle reminds. Property was valued around $40 mil at time of that deal. Brand isn't worth much anymore and hasn't been in production for last couple mos now. However, union workers' "efforts to negotiate 'did not work out,'" sources told Chronicle. "A range of investors have expressed interested in Anchor's buildings"; some would want to "maintain the site as a brewery." Turns out Anchor plant is located "in industrial stretch of the city" described by those in real estate as "Area AI," because a number of artificial intelligence startups "started taking up industrial spaces" in this neighborhood and others nearby. From Anchor to AI.

Lookin' solely at Nielsen xAOC channels (excluding liquor and convenience), craft still softest in midwest regions by far. Sales declined 4.4% in East North Central and 3.7% in West North Central YTD thru Sep 30 vs $$ down 1.7% nationally. Pacific region craft also down steeper than natl avg, -2.4%. All other regions performed a bit better than natl avg in xAOC channels, tho Mountain (+0.2%) and East South Central (+0.1%) were the only two that grew slightly by $$.

Total number of craft brands tracked in Nielsen xAOC + liquor plus convenience declined about 3%, 610 brands, to 18,919 YTD thru Sep 30, BWC showed. Contrary to narrative around chains cutting back on craft brands over the last few yrs, BWC's tally shows that # of brands increased from 18,885 in 2020 to 19,646 in 2021 and 20,527 in 2022. So this would be first yr with fewer craft brands in Nielsen data if trends continue, according to BWC. This yr, there's a growing number of lagers, mix packs, NA/hop waters, Hazy DIPAs, 12pk cans and 19.2oz cans. But that's getting wiped out by fewer seasonals, "traditional" IPAs, wheat ales, pale ales, 6pk bottles and 6pk cans. Notably, 12pk cans surpassed 6pk bottles to become #2 craft SKU overall YTD, BWC highlighted separately. Twelve-pk cans grew nearly 12% to $768.6 mil vs 6pk bottles down 10% to $750.6 mil.

WA's Georgetown Brewing is now among top-25 craft beer brand families by $$ YTD, according to Nielsen data shared by BWC. With $$ up 12% to $29.2 mil, sales surpassed Golden Road craft (-10% to $28.3 mil) to become #24 craft fam overall in xAOC + liquor plus + convenience. It's also #8 best growth brand family in craft this yr, slightly ahead of Hop WTR (+324.5%) and Montauk (+29%), and a bit behind Bell's (+5.8%) and Fiddlehead (+34%).

Non-alc craft beer continues to grow at high-speed clips in scans this yr, rising in % of total non-alc beer and total craft segment too, data from latest Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) craft segment review thru Q3 shows. Non-alc craft beer grew 76% to $110.7 mil YTD thru Sep 30 in Nielsen xAOC + liquor plus + convenience. That's as total craft beer segment $$ were flat at $4.275 bil and total non-alc beer $$ grew 35% to $364.2 mil. So NA craft surged 7.1 pts to over 30 share of NA beer YTD and +1.1 share to 2.6 of craft beer $$. Excluding craft NAs, all other craft brands collectively declined 1%. All other non-alc beer brands collectively grew more than 22% to $253.5 mil.

Great Point Brands, PE shop founded by Dr Pepper Snapple vets, has sold its Live Brands unit to Better Booch after struggling to fully capitalize on that brand's pioneering role in popularizing so-called "gut pops." Great Point had amassed better-for-you brands Live, Cuvee Coffee and Daily Greens, but hasn't been able to make any of them ignite at national level and quietly closed Daily Greens 3 years ago (BBI, Nov 4 2020). Better Booch cofounder Ashleigh Lockerbie told BevNet that deal will be immediately accretive and allow Better Booch to avoid layoffs as it aims for financially sustainable operation . . . Minneapolis-based SunOpta said it sold off its frozen fruit assets yesterday to Quebec-based Nature's Touch as it continues to double down on plantmilks and healthy snacks. Transaction is valued at $141 mil including $20 mil in promissory notes payable over 3 years. It includes plants in Edwardsville, Kan, and Jacona, Mexico, plus significant amount of frozen fruit inventory. The divestiture of unit that generated $263 mil in sales "is a major milestone in our portfolio optimization efforts and our multi-year transformation to becoming a leading manufacturer of value-add products in plant-based and healthy snack categories," said ceo Joe Ennen. "This transaction is significantly accretive to margins, results in a more capital efficient business model, strengthens our balance sheet and ensures we are singularly focused on the most attractive growth opportunities." Proceeds will be used to pay down debt, cutting net leverage from 3.7X at end of Q2 to 3.4X at closing and 3.2X including the seller notes.

Sprecher Brewing has taken a step into the service biz with the acquisition of Excent in Germantown, about 20 miles NW of Sprecher's Milwaukee base. Excent operates big robotic line in 130K-sq-ft plant that employs about 18 and services such brands as Zoa Energy, Carbliss and Press hard seltzer, whose co-owner Jim Sorenson was seller of plant. Pickup comes at time variety packs have burgeoned in popularity, not just as a club store format, but as a sampling vehicle, particularly for multipack-oriented brands. Sprecher will plug its own sodas into operation at some point but meanwhile hopes to carve out role in seriously capacity-constrained segment.