Not Another One For BeerNexus.com So, let ‘s talk a little craft beer history: In 1965 Fritz Maytag, yes whose family made their money because we need clean clothes, found out the makers of his favorite beer, Anchor Steam, were going to shut down and decided to try to save it and bought 51%. Anchor Brewing can trace its roots to 1849 and produced steam beer, also known as California Common. Steam beer was a different process of fermenting lager yeasts at warmer ale yeast fermentation temperatures because back then they didn’t have the ice or re- frigeration available, but they still wanted to drink beer out west. It officially became Anchor Brewing in 1896. Anchor Steam Beer in the 1960s, which wasn’t trade- marked by them until 1981, brewed a different type of beer that had some real taste, very different from your standard fizzy lagers of that time. By 1971 Anchor had four other distinctive beers; Anchor Porter, Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale and its first annual Christmas Ale. Anchor was making craft beers before we had a craft beer revolution, but then again it has to start somewhere. In 1976 a homebrewer, Jack McAuliffe, founded New Albion Brewing Company, which he built from whatever material he could find. His beer was popular and he could hardly keep up, but he did not have the easy ability of today to go out and buy more equipment and brew more beer. Not being able to turn a profit he closed after six years but had created the blueprint for microbreweries to come. Then in 1979 President Jimmy Carter signed a bill de-regulating the beer industry, so that small scale producers were no longer shut out of the tightly regulated market, which is why many of our craft beer pioneers began breweries in the 1980’s. Some are still around and going strong: Ken Grossman opened Sierra Nevada in 1981, Jim Koch and Rhonda Kallman opened Boston Brewery in 1984, Kurt and Rob Widmer opened Widmer’s in 1984, Larry Bell opened Bell’s Brewery in 1985, Gary Fish opened Deschutes Brewery in 1988, Dan and Pat Conway opened Great Lakes Brewery in 1988, Steve Hindy and Tom Potter open Brooklyn Brewery in 1988; and well I’m sure I’ve missed some other influential people and breweries but you get the idea. Our craft beer forefathers/pioneers knew what they were doing then and now and we have a lot to thank them for. Others haven’t been so lucky: Bert Grant opened Grant’s Brewery and Pub, aka Yakima Brewing & Malting Co. in 1982; the first of its kind opened since prohibition. He started with a pale ale then developed the first craft beer using IPA in the name; also an amber ale, Scottish ale and Imperial Stout. Grant sold to Stimson Lane Vineyards & Estates in 1995. Shortly after his death in 2001 (but obviously unrelated) it was sold to Black Bear Brewing. Yakima Brewing ran into financial trouble in 2003 and was closed after a judgement in 2004. Grant’s Scottish Ale was nationally acclaimed, his IPA a pioneer and his pub left a legacy by re-establishing the business model and also craft model of what a brewpub could be. D.L. Geary’s, founded in Portland, ME in 1983 was the first craft brewery east of the Mississippi and one of only thirteen in the country. Their English style Pale Ale and Hampshire Special Ale were excellent examples of what great craft beer could taste like. Unfortunately, more breweries opened and we craft beer lovers went IPA crazy, a trend that Geary’s did not join. Less and less of us bought Geary’s, wanting to try the newest beer from the newest brewery and production dropped 34.5% from 2011 to 2015. They were sold in 2017 to the LaPoint’s who, as Mainers, have fond memories of Geary’s and plan to revitalize the brand. Maybe they share some DNA with the Maytags??? Mendocino Brewing Company opened Hopland Brewery, California’s first brewpub, in 1983. Founders Michael Laybourn and Norman Franks brought in Jack McAuliffe and Don Barkley from the defunct New Albion to run it and Red Tail Ale was born. In 1994 they went public and in 1997 Vijay Mallya, owner of United Breweries Group, bought controlling interest. UB also bought Olde Saratoga Brewery in New York. Unfortunately, through no fault of the beer but rather the owner, who left India in 2016 to avoid legal action by Indian banks, both Mendocino and Olde Saratoga were suddenly closed in early 2018. It appears someone has bought Mendocino and hopefully Red Tail Ale and their other birds of prey are back in at least the California market. We all recently heard about New Belgium Brewing; started in 1991 by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch and creator of the classic Fat Tire Amber Ale. They have always been a forward thinking, responsible company in terms of environmental practice and employee engagement; not to mention they make some really good beers and steadily rose into the upper echelon (make that #4) of craft breweries. In 2013 Kim sold her share of the business to her co-workers/its employees so it became 100% employee owned; AB nor MillerCoors was going to buy this craft beer out. Then following other western breweries, like Sierra Nevada and Green Flash, they decide to build a second, east coast brewery in Ashville, NC. It was a real shocker last year when they announced the sale to Lion, a subsidiary of Kirin. Maybe they were too aggressive adding a second major brewery or maybe many of the employees see this as their ability to cash in and retire or maybe it was the right offer at the right time. Obviously, Lion/Kirin want a foothold in our craft beer revolution so they went after one of the biggest and hopefully they’ll want to learn about what made it successful rather than trying to change it from their perspective. We’ve had mostly highs and some lows, which is probably better than we should expect but after 30+ years the industry has grown and like with any industry has changed along the way. Today some of our pioneers are being pushed by the phenomenal growth of the craft industry and our change from loyalty to trying the newest one, and some would like to retire and sit on their porch and enjoy a couple of cold ones. Just like with New Belgium it’s always somewhat of a shock when one of the older craft breweries that helped bring relevance to craft beer announces their sale or worse yet their closing. Last month I heard that Stoudt’s in Adamstown, PA is going to cease operations and prepare their brewery for sale. And the obvious reason why; they’re not selling enough beer. Breweries are popping up all over the place and to be honest many of the newer ones are basically terrible, but there are tons of people in their taprooms trying them. Now I’ll give anyone a chance but if they’re not making really good beer then you won’t see me for a long time if ever. Yes, there are breweries that need to get the kinks out and develop a process so some, after starting off slow are able to turn it around and start cranking out good beers. Carol Stoudt was the first female brewer since Prohibition and in 1987 opened the first craft brewery in PA a 30 bbl brewhouse, aptly named Stoudt’s Brewery, next to the already thriving Black Angus restaurant her husband started in the 60’s to which they had added a beer garden in 1979. Carol learned how to brew beer and built Stoudt’s on the same principles of authentic German beers brewed in the time tested Reinheitsgebot tradition. Over the years her beers were synonymous with quality and she won many craft beer awards. As a pioneer she personally provided support and encouragement to fledging brewers in the early days. She would visit new breweries and treat them as community not competition. Carol is viewed very fondly in the craft beer world and has certainly earned her nicknames the Mother of Craft Beer and the Queen of Hops. Stoudt’s was in 13 states in late 90’s but as the IPA obsession took over their sales fell off; they began pulling back in 2015. Carol is ready to retire and looking for buyer so Stoudt’s can live on. I consider her Scarlet Lady Ale one of the early crossover beers like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Fat Tire, etc. etc.; an easygoing great tasting beer that was blowing the mass-produced lagers away. I hope to get another Scarlet Lady before they close down and let’s also hope that like Anchor Steam and Geary’s and Red Tail and Smuttynose someone does buy them and keeps Stoudt’s going. Hopefully I haven’t bored you with my abbreviated journey into craft beer history. Hey it’s not like we’re talking US history of over two centuries or European history of thousands of years, we’re just a mere few decades. One thing you learn in history is that knowing the past will help you understand the future, where we’re going. Oh, and by the way I hope you were paying attention as they’ll be an unannounced quiz later… Glenn DeLuca writes about beer and culture of drinking. He may be reached by writing thebigG@beernexus.com. *** *** *** |
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