Frederick Louis Maytag III | |
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Born | December 9, 1937 Newton, Iowa, U.S. |
Occupation | Businessman, brewing magnate, viticulturist |
Employer | Anchor Brewing Company Maytag Dairy Farms York Creek Vineyards |
Children | Frederick Louis Maytag IV, Alexandra Matthews, PhD. |
Parents | Frederick Louis Maytag II |
Relatives | Frederick Louis Maytag I, greatgrandfather |
Frederick Louis “Fritz” Maytag III (born December 9, 1937 in Newton, Iowa) is the former owner of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco and is Chairman of the Board of the Maytag Dairy Farms (maker of Maytag Blue cheese). He is also the owner of York Creek Vineyards in St. Helena, California. His revival of Anchor Steam beer inspired many other brewers to follow, and he is often considered father of modern microbreweries.[1]
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Maytag is the great-grandson of Maytag Corporation founder Frederick Louis Maytag I and the son of Maytag Dairy Farms founder Frederick Louis Maytag II. He is a 1955 graduate of Deerfield Academy and a 1959 graduate of Stanford University.
In its April 2005 article "26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs", Inc. magazine named Maytag seventh-most fascinating "for setting limits".
Maytag won the 2008 James Beard Foundation's Lifetime Achievement award for his work at Anchor Brewing.
Hearing that the Steam Beer Brewing Company was about to close and looking for something serious to do with his life, Maytag bought the company in 1965 and made it his mission. Steam Beer Brewing had produced awful, sour beer through the 1950s and into the '60s.[2] To revive the company, Maytag altered the recipe and the brewing process and the beer soon surged in popularity. The brewery moved to a new location in 1979 and throughout the coming years demand continued to climb. Not wanting to sacrifice the small size of the brewery, and in turn the quality of the beer, Maytag helped competitors become proficient in microbrewing. This helped to ease the strain on his own company.