San Francisco, ever a city of immigrants, began as something of a brewer's paradise with 19th century San Franciscans bringing brewing traditions from their home countries. At one point, dozens of diverse brewers thrived, and beer was arguably the city's most cherished elixir.
A small hiccup called "prohibition" crippled San Francisco's brewing culture, not just by making the stuff temporarily illegal, but by forcing brewers to shift their production into other areas. Unfortunately, most of these shifts were permanent. Even after the 21st amendment was passed, San Francisco, like the rest of America, was dominated by cheap beer with flavor that was (to put it kindly) uniform.
The San Francisco Brewer's Guild formed during a renaissance in American craft brewing that took place largely in San Francisco and the surrounding counties. In the interest of restoring and preserving San Francisco's artisan beer traditions, The Guild hopes to unite those who make local beer with those who love it, and revive the vibrant heritage of beer brewing in the city.
1849
First brewery in SF opens
1896
Anchor Brewery opens
1900
List number of breweries in SF
Prohibition
1965
Fritz Maytag buys Anchor
????
Anchor releases 1st post-prohibition IPA in US
????
Anchor releases 1st post-prohibition porter in US (and a couple of others like this)
1984
San Francisco Brewing Co opens (first brewpub in SF, 4th in US)
1988
Toronado opens
1998
SF brewpubs collaborate on "Duplicale" project, predecessor to the Guild
2004
SF breweries found the SF Brewers Guild, first Brews on the Bay
2011
Anchor Brewing joins the SF Brewers Guild