Fritz Maytag comes from an innovative family.  His grandfather, Frederick Louis Maytag I, made a name for himself with commercial appliances like washing machines and dryers.  His father, Frederick Louis Maytag II, is renowned for cheese, especially Maytag Blue Cheese.  Frederick Louis Maytag III—or Fritz to those in the beer world—is a founding father of the American craft beer movement and owner of the venerable Anchor Brewery in San Francisco.

I sat down with Mr. Maytag after taking a tour of his pristine brewery in the Potrero Hill district of San Francisco to discuss fine beverages and see what about beer excites a man who has spent over forty years producing the bubbly refreshment.

“I still remember that smell,” Fritz said when describing they first time he made Anchor Porter, the fist porter to be bottled in America after Prohibition.   “Oh no, I thought, they sent us coffee beans instead of malt.  I just didn’t know what dark malts smelled like then.”

Anecdotes like these peppered our conversation when I asked Fritz about his experiences in the brew house.  Another time, while Fritz was explaining why he utilizes open-air fermentation for Anchor beer—“it’s just for fun”—he mentioned how once, early in his time with the brewery, he came into work only to find pigeons romping around in open pans used for cooling down his wort.  

Amid the humorous stories there were also the expected tales of brewing disasters and chaos.  Fritz let me in on how recently, one particular disaster made him wonder if he was ready to retire.  

“I never felt I wanted to retire, to stop doing what I do,” he told me.  After a chaotic stint at the brewery several years ago, however, Fritz wondered if his lack of desire to sort out major problems he dealt with several times in the past were the feelings of a person who was ready to pass the reins to someone else.

When I asked him where his creative passions lie nowadays, I wasn’t surprised when he mentioned something other than beer.

“The Christmas Ales are fun since we’re always experimenting with the recipe,” he replied before focusing on another beverage he produces.  “But during the grape harvest, usually around October, the only thing on my mind is the wine.” Fritz said, referencing the vineyards Fritz owns in the Napa and Sonoma valleys.  

Unbeknownst to many in the beer world, Maytag has owned vineyards for about as long as he has owned Anchor.  Originally the grapes he produced were sold to other vintners, but since 2000 Maytag has produced his own series of wine under the label York Creek Vineyards.  

In addition to wine, Maytag has been making spirits—whiskey and gin—in small batches and in traditional copper pot stills on a floor in the brewery since 1994.  

“We were pioneers,” says Maytag of his spirits.  “Nobody was making small batch, traditional spirits at that time.  We hit a homerun with it.”  

Although Maytag initially kept the spirits a secret, word has spread and he enjoys the creative challenges the beverages pose.  Beer enthusiasts especially will want to keep up-to-date about Maytag’s Old Potrero single malt whiskey since the crew at Anchor has been experimenting with the used whiskey barrels for beer production.

“OBA, or Our Barrel Ale, is a blend of ales we’ve been experimenting with…aged in our own Old Petreo Rye Whiskey barrels.  It’s an experiment.”  

The first batch was aged for six-months and Maytag and company have been experimenting with different temperatures, aging periods and blends of already existing Anchor ales.  

Initially hesitant to produce the brew, Maytag sites his production manager and nephew for convincing him to take the plunge.  

“I have a prejudice against wooden containers,” Maytag admitted.  “Wood is just a horrible bug farm.”  

While he explained his distrust of wood, Maytag reflected on the old days at Anchor.  “I’m the only living brewer, probably, who ever made and sold a lot of sour beer against my will. When I bought into the brewery it was a medieval brewery.”  

Maytag’s first few years brewing were filled with old wooden tanks and lots of sour beer.  The problems that arose from the wood back then have formed the bias he holds today. He took it as a personal challenge to modernize the brewery, to take it “from the middle ages into the modern age.”  

If Anchor’s reputation as one of the top breweries in the country is any indication, Maytag has done an exceptional job.  Since taking over the brewery in late sixties, Anchor is now sold in all fifty states and nine different countries.  

Despite his monumental achievements, Fritz Maytag continues to contribute to the beverage world.  He has rescinded his thoughts of retirement and turned his focus on world-class wines, spirits and the next generation of Anchor creations, OBA.  The brewery is currently aging the second batch of OBA at the brewery, but the release date is unknown.  If Maytag’s excitement about the experiments is any indication, OBA is something beer enthusiasts will not want to miss.