A Brief History of Beer in America

Christin Hume via Unsplash

A timeline of beer making in America from early settlers to the rise of craft

The craft beer boom in the United States keeps growing, with nearly 7,500 craft and macro breweries in the United States alone. According to the Brewers Association's 2018 numbers, beer is a $114 billion market, but its impact goes beyond just dollars. The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) put out a report last year titled “Beer Serves America”, laying out the economic impact of the beer industry on the economy. According to this report, nearly 70,000 people are directly employed by breweries, with another estimated 2.1 million jobs linked to brewing in various ways, from bartenders to distributors. The same report states that the beer industry alone is 1.6% of the total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), contributing $328 billion annually. For comparison, the GDP of Denmark in 2018 was only slightly higher at $352 billion.  

It has not always been this way. Through the history of beer in America, there have been periods when the fortunes of the beer industry have been linked to the culture of the time. It starts at the beginning, when brewing beer was not a hobby, it was a necessity.

Commercial Brewing arrives in North America, 1632

Commercially, the first brewery in the United States was set up in New Amsterdam (now New York City) on Brewer Street (now Stone St.) in the early 17th century. It was opened by the Dutch West India Company, who had received orders to build the area as a Dutch settlement. Commercial brewing was not as common at the time. Beer was something that everyone brewed individually, so there was not yet a need for a separate entity to do it. The Dutch were pioneers in the efficiency of trade. A century earlier, they fortified wine as a way to ship more of it, expecting to add water back to it when it arrived at its destination. They built breweries to make sure that the few hundred settlers on the island were spending their time developing the land without having to worry about making beer.

Breweries slowly manifested across the new country as settlers moved further and further into the new world. As populations grew, breweries served several functions. Initially, when settlers arrived in a new location, they would brew on their own. Most new structures had a place to set up an area for brewing, but homebrewing could be incredibly dangerous. Many fires occurred when bringing everything to boil. With a separate brewery, the home was a little bit safer. It also brought an economic boost to the area. In many settlements, breweries and taverns were typically the first buildings there, to encourage people to either stop in an established area or travel to a new one. Commercial brewing helped encourage the growth of the colonies beyond the coastlines and deeper into the new world.

Melanio Salome Jr., via Pexels

Drinking Beer in The Colonial Era (17th and 18th century)

Commercial brewing was a complicated business to get off the ground. Most people could make beer at home. Beer was seen by many as a lighter alternative to the rum, wine, whiskey, and other drinks people consumed. Most beers enjoyed in the colonies did not get much above 3% or 4% ABV. It was not uncommon for women and children would enjoy "small beers” — beers brewed with what was leftover from a stronger beer to make a weaker one. These were usually less than 1% ABV and were considered a safer option than water. Colonists drank much more per person than we do now, but they consumed either what we would consider a session beer at its strongest, or almost non-alcoholic at the weakest.

If people wanted a better beer, they likely had to get it through trade with England. The ales and porters were of good quality, but they were much more expensive than what was available locally. Rum was much cheaper and had more of a kick. Cider was another option that was popular with drinkers. It was readily available, as apple trees and peach trees took well to the soil in the new world, meaning fruit was abundant. Cheap wines were also readily available through trade, making wine an excellent option to drink.

As the Revolutionary War loomed, beer became harder to get from England. Even if people could obtain it, true patriots were not drinking anything from across the pond. They were only drinking what could be brewed here, with several of the founding fathers starting their own breweries, or involved in supplying materials to brew beer.

Adolphus Busch via Wikimedia Commons

German Lagers, and Anheuser-Busch, Change the Way We Drink - 1879

St. Louis became a haven for Germans coming to America in the mid 19th century. With the influx of Germans came an explosion of brewers, most of them making lagers. Until the 1840s, there were little to no lagers in the United States. The strain of yeast that is responsible for a lagered beer, Saccharomyces pastorianus, did not travel well across the Atlantic. As ocean travel became faster, it was possible to bring strains of it to America, which immigrants from the German states were happy to do. There were dozens of new breweries springing up in St. Louis, including a small operation run by a soap and candle maker, Eberhard Anheuser. His business was doing well, but not as well as it did after his son-in-law Adolphus Busch joined him in running the brewery. Adolphus looked to build a national brand during a time when all beer was still local. He planned on using emerging technology to do it. The inherent stability of lager lent itself to travel, as long as it was kept sufficiently chilled. He purchased refrigerated rail cars to move his product further outside of Missouri, refreshing those cars at ice houses near the rail yards. Pasteurization allowed Anheuser-Busch to distribute their product to go from coast to coast. The company bought breweries in other parts of the country as well, making it easier to ship their beer to destinations further to the west. These technological advantages made Budweiser the first brand available nationally, inspiring competitors to start working their way across the country.

The Impact of Prohibition (1920 - 1933)

Of all the alcohol industries that were impacted by Prohibition, the beer industry took one of the most massive tolls. Most spirits had a secondary, legal market created for them in this new, post-18th-Amendment world through various loopholes like prescriptions. The wine industry had sacramental wine to help keep some wineries, though not many, going, as well as a few other loopholes that allowed people to make their wine at home. There was a similar loophole for ciders, partially to thank farmers for their support, partially because nature cannot stop doing what nature does. Leaving a bushel of uncovered apples outside could produce a cider, no matter what. Furthermore, liquor and spirits could transition to making like solvents, cleaners, or munitions. As with spirits, there were some medicinal scripts written for beer, but not enough to sustain an industry that was at its peak a scant decade before.

During the thirteen years that Prohibition was in existence, just over 40% of the 1,356 breweries running in the mid-1910s were still operating. Those that made it through took some very innovative routes to do so. Less than 1% beer was allowed to be brewed, which many brewers attempted to do with varying degrees of success. Some made malt extract for bakers and parts of the food industry. (Though if the concoction was exposed to yeast and some water, there may be the “unfortunate” side effect of making beer.) With all of the refrigeration equipment they owned, many breweries transitioned into the dairy industry, making cheese or ice cream. But Prohibition—combined with the Great Depression and both World Wars—still dealt a blow to the industry it did not begin to recover from until the late 1970s. By that time, there were only about 100 breweries in the United States, owned by a handful of large companies.

homebrewing setup, via Wikimedia Commons

The Return of Homebrewing (1977-1978)

Other than a few outlier brewers, there was little to drink but lagers in the United States by the 1970s. In California, steam beer had been resurrected by Anchor Brewing Company at the beginning of the decade. New Albion Brewing was started by a Navy veteran in Sonoma, CA, in 1976, when he returned to find that America lacked the beer diversity that Europe enjoyed. This company inspired a slew of other young brewers, like Jim Koch, Ken Grossman, and Sam Calagione to step out on their own, bringing the world the then independent breweries Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, and Dogfish Head. These pioneers began to brew and revive porters, ales, and other long-forgotten styles, though without the benefit of trying out the recipes at home. That’s because up until 1978, brewing at home was illegal.

The aftermath of Prohibition still could be felt across the country. One of these vestiges was a line in the tax code that said only the head of a home could brew beer, only 200 gallons a year, and it was taxable. In H.R.1337, the 95th Congress (1977-1978) amended this language, allowing any adult in a home to brew beer tax-free. This relaxation of the restrictions led to more homebrewers trying their hand at craft beer, digging up recipes and trying them out on friends and family.

It is no coincidence that by the beginning of the 1990s, the number of brewers in the country almost tripled, hitting 286 breweries by 1990. Nor is it a coincidence that ales fueled the craft beer boom. After nearly a century of dominance by lagers, beer drinkers were ready for some new flavor. With all of the new advancements in technology, ales became easier to brew and monitor. For a new company looking to make some capital quickly, ales also provided a quick return on their investment. It is not until the last five years or so that many craft breweries returned to making old school lagers. Many of the old stalwarts, like Samuel Adams, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Brooklyn Brewing, and Oskar Blues, all have had lagers in their line for years, along with their other ales (and have won multiple awards for them, including at the NY International Beer Competition, held every February). While there was an underground network of craft brewers sharing recipes, the fact that they could practice their craft without fear of ramifications was the trigger to the craft beer boom.

Craft Brewing Takes America (2010 - today)

K yryll Ushakov, via Unsplash

Many of the craft beers that are enjoyed today started in the basement or garage of a home brewer—finding whatever space can be found to brew beer. For instance, the breweries mentioned above used the ashes of the old beer industry for their innovations. Great Lakes Brewing Company took a 19th century building that formerly housed a brewery and turned it into their headquarters, expanding into other buildings and revitalizing the Ohio City area of Cleveland. Samuel Adams, when they expanded to the midwest, bought an old brewery in Cincinnati to house their new operation. Even Anchor Brewing Company, the first to bring craft brewing back to the mainstream, started in an old brewery. Not only was craft beer revitalizing the industry, they were revitalizing areas of cities that were run down or had seen better days. They built communities as they built their business (click here to read about breweries in abandoned churches).

This community of brewers has had a major impact on the industry. Craft beer continues to grow in every way measurable, according to the Brewers Association’s Annual Growth Report. Craft beer saw gains across the board, increasing its production volume by 4% and its share of total revenue by 7% in 2018. According to another chart from the Brewers Association, the number of barrels brewed quadrupled from 2008 to 2018.  

The importance of craft to a community was recognized by the Brewers Association, and they developed a seal to inform consumers when they are buying a craft product. This was created after larger corporations began to purchase craft breweries to stay competitive in the market. In an era where access to information and transparency about how a product is made helps inform consumer purchases, craft beer drinkers are particular about the beer they consume. Supporting small and independent businesses matters, and drinking local is important. Much like it was when the English first started brewing in this New World.

Even as the hard seltzer industry edges in, this era will be known as a high watermark in the history of beer. The variety of beers available to the public is at an all-time high, and we have come almost full circle to where the first brewers were in the 17th century—most of the beer I can buy is locally made by professional brewers, right in the neighborhood. Microbreweries are once again becoming places for people to gather, share the news of the day, and enjoy a draught with friends.

Time to raise a pint to how far we have come, and how far the beer industry can still go!