Craft beer isn't new, but it has been building up to this point, especially in the last decade. The number of US breweries has quadrupled in this period and the past couple of years I've easily had many of the best and most interesting beers I've ever had in my life, often from local Bay Area breweries. That's all very new, and the "classic" couldn't compete when there's better, or let's say at least more interesting choices available. A more likely story for declining sales than "distribution and marketing issues" for a brand which is far more well-known than almost any other SFBA beer with the backing of a global megabrewer.

There's too many IPAs though on that we can agree.