This Serial Investor Hopes to Bring Anchor Brewing Back From the Brink of Extinction

It’s been less than a week since San Francisco’s legendary Anchor Brewing Company announced plans to shut down its operations after an impressive 127 years in business. While some fans reacted by heading to stores to clear shelves of the brewery’s products while they still could, others put their heads down to figure out if there may be a way to save the business.

The list of would-be beer saviors includes San Francisco resident and serial investor Mike Walsh, who tells the San Francisco Chronicle he “definitely” has “enough interest and access to capital to put a competitive offer in” to buy Anchor. Walsh, according to his LinkedIn has previously invested in a number of companies, some of which you may have heard of before — Uber, for example. Walsh has also put up a website called Raising the Anchor where anyone interested in helping him purchase the company can get in touch.

Walsh isn’t the only local or national entity with an interest in saving Anchor Brewing. One San Francisco resident told the Chronicle he’d like to get a group of “20 or so people like myself — people in their 30s that have something of a nest egg” to try to save the business and turn it into a reality TV show. Rhode Island-based Narragansett Beer also launched a Change.org petition to try to save the business; in an interview with Forbes, the brewery’s president Mark Hellendrung says gathering signatures may not be enough to save the business but that he’d be interested in buying it with “a group of people who are as passionate about Anchor as I am.”

In-N-Out bans masks for employees at some locations

Californians love — and, sometimes, love to hate — fast food juggernaut In-N-Out, but during the pandemic, the business has drawn plenty of negative attention for flouting health mandates such as vaccination requirements and bans on indoor dining. In keeping with the trend, the company sent a memo to its staff in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah announcing “new mask guidelines” that prohibit workers from wearing masks unless they have a valid medical note.

Los Gatos restaurant’s appetizer is unbelievably spicy

The Mercury News reports that a Dragon Ball appetizer at Los Gatos restaurant Coup de Thai is allegedly so spicy it gave a woman chemical burns on her vocal cords. The dish is made with mint, shallot, green onion, cilantro, kaffir lime leaf, and bird’s eye chili.

Raise a glass to all the Barbie girls at True Laurel

Restaurants and bars from Austin to Washington, D.C. are running hot pink, Barbie-themed specials to mark the release of what might be the summer’s most anticipated movie. In San Francisco, you can head to cocktail bar True Laurel in the Mission to raise a glass with the bar’s Barbie Girl drink made with fresh rhubarb juice, Feni cashew liqueur, mezcal, dry vermouth, and a mint distillate.

True Laurel