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In the United States,
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
is manufactured in breweries which range in size from industry giants to
brew pub Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
s and
microbreweries Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
. The United States produced 196 million
barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids ...
() of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly of beer per capita annually. In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. Although beer was a part of colonial life in the United States, the passing of the
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) to the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and ratified by the requisite number of sta ...
in 1919 resulted in the prohibition of alcoholic beverage sales, forcing nearly all American breweries to close or switch to producing non-alcoholic products. After the
repeal of Prohibition In the United States, the nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages was repealed by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Background In 1919, the requisite number of state legislatures ratif ...
, the industry consolidated into a small number of large-scale breweries. Many of the big breweries that returned to producing beer after Prohibition, today largely owned by international conglomerates like
Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...
, still retain their dominance of the market in the 21st century. However, the majority of the new breweries that have opened in the U.S. over the past three decades have been small breweries and
brewpubs Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
, referred to as "
craft breweries Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
" to differentiate them from the larger breweries. The most common style of beer produced by the big breweries is
pale lager Pale lager is a pale-to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Bre ...
. Beer styles indigenous in the United States include
amber ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...
,
cream ale Cream ale is a style of American beer that is light in color and well attenuated, meaning drier. First crafted in the mid-1800s at various breweries in the United States, cream ale remained a very localized form with different styles until th ...
, and California common. More recent craft styles include American Pale Ale, American IPA, India Pale Lager, Black IPA, and the American "Double" or "Imperial" IPA.


History


Beginnings

The earliest record of brewing dates from 1587, and the first commercial brewery in the United States was built by the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
in 1632 in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
on Brewers (later Stone) Street. On February 5, 1663, Nicholas Varlett obtained from
Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the Directors of New Netherland, director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was pro ...
a patent for a brewery on Castle Point in
Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...
. The brewing traditions of
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
(as brought to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
) ensured that colonial drinking would be dominated by beer rather than wine. Until the middle of the 19th century, British-style
ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...
s dominated American brewing. This changed when the longer shelf-life
lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...
styles brought by German immigrants turned out to be more profitable for large-scale manufacturing and shipping. The hops in lager had preservative qualities, while non-hopped local ales of the time quickly turned sour and were a perceived risk to drink. The lager brewed by these companies was originally based on several different styles of
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, but the Pilsener style, using mild Czech hops, pale, lightly roasted
six-row barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikelets ...
and often
adjuncts In brewing, adjuncts are unmalted grains (such as barley, wheat, maize, rice, rye, and oats) or grain products used in brewing beer which supplement the main mash ingredient (such as malted barley). This is often done with the intention of cut ...
such as rice and corn, gradually won out.
Steam beer Steam beer, also known as California common beer, is made by fermenting lager yeast at a higher than normal temperature. Historically steam beer came from Bavaria, Germany, and is associated with San Francisco and the West Coast of the United S ...
, the first uniquely American
beer style Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin. The modern concept of beer styles is largely based on the work of writer Michael Jackson in his 1977 book ...
, evolved in the
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
area during the 19th century. It was born out of the desire to produce lager beer without the use of refrigeration. After prohibition ended, the
Anchor Brewing Company Anchor Brewing Company was a brewery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1896, the brewery underwent several changes in location and ownership throughout its history. After years of declining sales due to competition with la ...
was left as the sole producer of steam beer.Smith, Brad
Steam Beer and California Common Recipes: Beer Styles
. BeerSmith.com. June 11, 2008. Retrieved 2011-3-9.
The company was near closure in 1965, whereupon
Fritz Maytag Frederick Louis "Fritz" Maytag III (born December 9, 1937, in Newton, Iowa) is the former owner of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco and former chairman of the board of the Maytag Dairy Farms (maker of Maytag Blue cheese). He is also the ...
, great-grandson of the
Maytag Corporation The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company. The company has been owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006. History The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessman Frederick Ma ...
founder, rescued the brewery and with it the steam beer style. Anchor has since trademarked the term "Steam Beer" and all subsequent renditions of the style are now termed ''California common''. D.G. Yuengling & Son, commonly called Yuengling, is the oldest operating brewing company in the United States, having been established in 1829 by
David Yuengling David Gottlieb Yuengling (March 2, 1808 – September 27, 1877) was an American businessman and brewer, the founder and first president of America's oldest brewery, D. G. Yuengling & Son. Early life He was born David Gottlob Jüngling on March ...
, and is one of the largest breweries by volume in the country. Headquartered in Pottsville,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, it is currently the largest American-owned brewery. One of the earliest large-scale brewers was Best Brewing (later renamed
Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...
), a Milwaukee brewery built by German immigrant Phillip Best in the 1840s. Other successful breweries of the era begun by German immigrants in Milwaukee included
Valentin Blatz Brewing Company The Valentin Blatz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It produced Blatz Beer from 1851 until 1959, when the label was sold to Pabst Brewing Company. Blatz beer is currently produced by the Miller Brewing Compa ...
,
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company is an United States, American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" ...
, and
Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...
. Pabst began shipping its beer to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
the following decade, first by ferry and eventually by rail, establishing an early trans-market beer brand in the United States. Rail transportation of beer in refrigerated cars (originally ice-cooled) became common in the last decades of the 19th century, allowing brands like Pabst to undersell previously unchallenged local beers in distant cities, and establishing lager's dominance in the market since it could better withstand being shipped. Missouri's Weston Brewing Company was first established in 1842 by German immigrant John Georgian. Georgian brought the tradition of lager brewing with him when he settled in
Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...
. The brewery was designed to utilize ice from the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
during winter and lagering cellars dug deep into the ground to create ideal conditions for his beer which needed to be stored below 60 degrees for more than six weeks. In creating the brewery, the Weston Brewing Company became one of the first lager breweries in the United States. In
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
, a prosperous German soap maker,
Eberhard Anheuser Eberhard Anheuser (27 September 1806 – May 1880) was a German-American soap and candle maker, and the father-in-law of Adolphus Busch, with whom he co-founded the Anheuser-Busch Company. Anheuser grew up in Kreuznach, where his parents opera ...
, purchased a struggling brewery in 1860. His daughter married a brewery supplier,
Adolphus Busch Adolphus Busch (10 July 1839 – 10 October 1913) was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early 2 ...
, who took over the company after his father-in-law's death, and renamed it
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
. Busch soon toured Europe, discovering the success of Bohemian lager, and introduced
Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...
beer (named after a beer brewed in the city of
České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...
in
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
, known as Budweis in German) in 1876.Jackson (1977), p. 210 Anheuser-Busch, and its Budweiser beer, later the largest brewery and beer brand in the world. The company innovated the use of refrigeration in rail cars to transport its beers, which helped make bottled Budweiser the first national beer brand in the United States. A massive increase in
immigration to the United States Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of history of the United States, its history. As of January 2025, the United States has the la ...
from
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...
led to an increase in beer consumption between 1880 and 1920 despite an overall decline in per capita alcohol consumption. In 1912, the use of brown bottles began to be used by ''
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company is an United States, American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" ...
'' of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
. This innovation has since been accepted worldwide and prevents harmful rays from destroying the quality and stability of beer.


Prohibition

On January 16, 1919, the
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) to the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and ratified by the requisite number of sta ...
was enacted into law, inaugurating the
Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...
, wherein the production, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages was made illegal. All legal American brewing came to a halt when prohibition was imposed, though the earlier
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...
had already reduced the number of breweries significantly. Only a few breweries, mainly the largest, were able to stay in business by manufacturing
near beer Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol by volume that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in diff ...
, malt syrup, or other non-alcohol grain products, in addition to soft drinks such as colas and
root beer Root beer is a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the ...
s. Production and shipping of alcohol was largely confined to illegal operations that could deliver compact
distilled beverage Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. While the ...
s—smuggled
rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...
and domestic
moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...
—more efficiently and reliably than bulkier products such as beer. American prohibition was repealed by degrees. First, the
Volstead Act The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress designed to execute the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919) which established the prohibition of alcoholic drinks. The Anti- ...
defining "intoxicating liquors", was amended in April 1933 by the
Cullen–Harrison Act The Cullen–Harrison Act, named for its sponsors, Senator Pat Harrison and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, enacted by the United States Congress on March 21, 1933, and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt the following day, legalized th ...
to provide that beer with a strength of up to 3.2% alcohol was not "intoxicating", and thus not prohibited (The "3.2 %" referred to is a measurement by weight and would be roughly equivalent to 4% if measured by volume, as is now common). Within 24 hours of legalization, as much as 1.5 million barrels of 3.2% ABW beer was sold, causing some to predict a "beer famine". Soon thereafter, in December of the same year, the
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition in the United States, prohibition on alcohol. The Twent ...
repealed prohibition in general, but left the production of alcoholic beverages heavily regulated by federal, state, and local authorities. Included in these regulations was the imposition of a three-tier distribution system, in which a manufacturer of alcoholic beverages must go through a wholesale distributor to sell its product, rather than selling to retailers directly.


Post Prohibition

Although the Twenty-first Amendment allowed brewers to legally resume practicing their craft, many "dry" counties remained and many states failed to ratify altogether, which slowed the resurgence of the brewing industry. In addition, the many prohibitionists of the temperance movement were still quite vocal and were able to retain a large following despite the repealing of the eighteenth amendment. Before the American beer industry could attempt to re-establish itself,
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
began. This further inhibited the re-emergence of smaller breweries because much of the grain supply was rationed due to the war, forcing the breweries to use adjuncts such as corn and rice alongside the barley traditionally used in brewing. The prohibitionists saw a tantalizing opportunity to quell the efforts of the remaining breweries, insisting that the commercial brewing of beer squandered manpower, grain, fuel, and cargo space that should have gone towards the war effort overseas.Jacobson, Lisa. "Beer Goes to War: The Politics of Beer Promotion and Production in the Second World War," ''Food, Culture & Society''; September 2009, Vol. 12 Iss. 3, pp. 275–312 Brewers responded to these accusations by extolling the benefits that
brewer's yeast ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been o ...
have on human health, namely their high
vitamin B B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. They are a chemically diverse class of compounds. Dietary supplements containing all eight are referred to as a vita ...
content. It was argued that the increase in
thiamine Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin – an Nutrient#Micronutrients, essential micronutrient for humans and animals. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosp ...
in the diets of the soldiers and factory workers would improve performance on the battlefield as well as in the factory and that this increase sufficiently justified the need for beer. The American government decided that the benefits of the vitamin B in brewer's yeast, alongside the taxes coming in from beer sales, were enough to justify a request for fifteen percent of beer production for servicemen. Although America's breweries had the backing of their government, they still needed to capture the hearts and the wallets of the American people. In order to accomplish this, the major breweries banded together and launched the "Morale is a Lot of Little Things" advertising campaign. The campaign can be well summarized from the following 1942 magazine advertisement:
"If you’re a man, it’s a shine on your shoes ... the sweet feel of a fly rod in your hand ... If you’re a woman, it’s a tricky new hair-do maybe ... or a change of lipstick. Morale is a lot of little things like that. People can take the big bad things ... the bitter news, the bombings even ... if only a few of the little, familiar, comforting good things are left."
From the time America entered the war in 1941 until it ended in 1945, the overall production of beer increased by over 40% despite the small number of active breweries. This wartime growth allowed the large breweries such as Anheuser-Busch to dominate the American market for over fifty years. During this period they produced beers more noted for their uniformity than for any particular flavor. Beers such as those made by Anheuser-Busch and
Coors Brewing Company The Coors Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company based in Golden, Colorado, that was founded in 1873. In 2005, Adolph Coors Company, the holding company that owned Coors Brewing, merged with Molson, Inc. to become Molson Coor ...
followed a restricted pilsner style, with large-scale industrial processes and the use of low-cost ingredients like corn or ingredients such as rice that provided starch for alcohol production while contributing minimal flavor to the finished product. The dominance of the so-called "macrobrew" led to an international stereotype of "American beer" as poor in quality and flavor.


Emergence of small breweries

By the 1970s, consolidation and dominance by the country's major brewers led to the fewest breweries in the country's modern history. Despite this, the period also saw the beginnings of the country's current craft beer movement. In 1976,
optical engineer Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
and
homebrewer Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...
Jack McAuliffe founded
New Albion Brewing Company The New Albion Brewing Company is known as the first American craft beer brewery. Founded in 1976 by Jack McAuliffe, Suzy Stern, and Jane Zimmerman in Sonoma, California, New Albion is acknowledged as the first United States microbrewery of th ...
in
Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
, becoming the nation's first microbrewery since Prohibition. Influenced by Fritz Maytag's recent turnaround of the
Anchor Brewing Company Anchor Brewing Company was a brewery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1896, the brewery underwent several changes in location and ownership throughout its history. After years of declining sales due to competition with la ...
and an earlier military stationing in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, McAuliffe's brewery offered
bottle-conditioned Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...
porter, stout, and pale ale to a public more accustomed to lightly flavored lagers. Despite only staying in business for seven years, New Albion ignited an interest in craft beer and set a precedent for a generation of craft brewers, including
Ken Grossman Ken Grossman (born November 11, 1954) is an American businessman and co-founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Early life Grossman was born to a Jewish family in southern California on November 11, 1954. He studied at Butte College and Cali ...
and the owners of
Mendocino Brewing Company Mendocino Brewing Company () is a brewery founded in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery in the Mendocino County town of Hopland, California. The brewery expanded and moved its operations to a larger Mendocino County facility located in Ukiah, Californi ...
, the nation's first
brewpub Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
. On October 14, 1978, H.R. 1337 was signed into law, which legalized the
homebrewing Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...
, home production of a small amount of beer or wine for personal consumption. Since then, the United States has witnessed a resurgence of brewing culture and the widespread proliferation of small breweries. By March 1986, five brewpubs had opened in the United States. The total number of breweries rose from 42 in 1978 to over 2,750 in 2012, reaching or exceeding the number of breweries estimated to have existed during the colonial period. Virtually all of this growth is attributable to small, independent breweries.


Economy

In most of the last 30 years, beer has been the most popular alcoholic beverage in America. At times, it was essentially tied with wine, but over time its overall popularity has declined, and as of 2022 spirits surpassed beer in popularity for the first time. As of 2016, the top three beer companies in the US were
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
,
MillerCoors MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. MillerCoors was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine their brewing, marketing and sales operations in the United States. The company was acqu ...
, and
Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...
. As of 2009, the top beer brands by market share were
Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...
(28.3%),
Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...
(11.9%) and
Coors Light Coors Light is a 4.2% ABV light American lager beer sold by Coors (currently Molson Coors) of Chicago, Illinois. It was first produced in 1978 by the Coors Brewing Company. They had briefly produced a different low-alcohol beer by the same n ...
(9.9%). Corona Extra is the No. 1 imported beer, followed by
Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...
. 2009 figures show an overall decline in beer consumption from previous years, with only
craft beer Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
sales rising at a rate of 7–10%.Brewers Association Announces 2009 Craft Brewer Sales Numbers
. Brewers Association. March 8, 2010. Retrieved 2011-3-11.
Overall U.S. beer consumption was calculated at 205.8 million barrels.
Light beer Light beer (sometimes spelled lite beer) is a pale lager that is reduced in ethanol, alcohol content or calories compared to regular beers. Light beer began to be mass marketed in the United States in the early 1970s, following test marketing and ...
constitutes a 52.8% share of US beer sales.US beer consumption drops for third year
. CommodityOnline. Sept 20 2010. Retrieved 2011-3-11.
Nearly eighty percent of
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...
s sell beer, about 93 percent of which is sold cold. The U.S. convenience store industry sells more than of beer a year; roughly one-third of all the beer purchased in the United States. Of the twenty percent of convenience stores that do not sell beer, the majority of those are in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
—the nation's sixth-largest state by population—due to limitations on alcohol sales in the state, which make it illegal to sell in convenience stores and restrict sales inside
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
s. Legislation is currently pending in the
Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvani ...
to legalize alcohol sales in convenience stores and loosen restrictions on supermarkets. In 2007, U.S. consumption was . Beer sales in the premium market are increasing, while sales in the standard and economy section are decreasing. The major beer producers merged to strengthen their position –
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
merged with
InBev InBev () was a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...
to form
Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...
, and
Molson Coors Molson Coors Beverage Company is a Canadian-American Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Molson Coors was formed in 2005 through the merger of Mo ...
formed a joint venture with
Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...
to form
MillerCoors MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. MillerCoors was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine their brewing, marketing and sales operations in the United States. The company was acqu ...
. Despite legal challenges, the country's three-tiered distribution system remains in place.


Craft beer

Today, there are over 4,000 craft breweries in the United States and the craft beer industry employs over 100,000 individuals brewing 15.6 million barrels of beer per year. According to an article by the Associated Press, published in 2016, craft beer is a $22 billion industry in the United States and sales were up 13% year over year. The
Brewers Association The Brewers Association is an American trade group of over 5,400 brewers, breweries in planning, suppliers, distributors, craft beer retailers, and individuals particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing. Two of th ...
, a trade group of American brewers, defines a brewery as "craft" if it: 1. is largely independent of outside corporate ownership, 2. produces fewer than six million barrels per year, and 3. uses traditional ingredients such as malted barley, or innovative ingredients to enhance flavor. According to the Brewers Association, the five largest craft breweries in order of sales volume for 2021 were: # D. G. Yuengling & Son of
Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is a city and the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the wes ...
(
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
), #
Boston Beer Company The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, James "Jim" Koch and Rhonda Kallman. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams (beer), Samuel Adams after Founding Fathers of the United States, Fo ...
of
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
(which produces
Samuel Adams Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, Political philosophy, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts, a le ...
beers), #
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in Chico, California, United States. The brewery produced in 2010, and as of 2016, Sierra Nevada Brewing is the seventh-largest brewing company in t ...
of
Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...
, # Duvel Moortgat USA of
Paso Robles, California Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for The Pass of Oaks), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River about north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot springs, ...
,
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, and
Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...
# Gambrinus Company of
San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
(which owns the
Shiner, Texas Shiner is a city in Lavaca County, Texas, United States. The town was named after Henry B. Shiner, who donated for a railroad right-of-way. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,127. Shiner was founded ...
-based
Spoetzl Brewery Spoetzl Brewery (originally Shiner Brewing Association) is a brewery located in Shiner, Texas, United States. It produces a diverse line of Shiner beers, including their flagship Shiner Bock, a dark lager that is now distributed throughout the U ...
and produces Shiner Beer). The relative success of the commercial craft brewing industry has led some beverage giants such as AB Inbev to invest in smaller breweries such as
Widmer Brothers Widmer Brothers is a brewery founded in 1984 in Portland, Oregon, by brothers Kurt and Robert Widmer. It is part of the Craft Brew Alliance, Craft Brew Alliance, Inc., the 12th largest brewing company in the United States in 2017. Details In 19 ...
and Goose Island, and to develop more complex beers of their own. Despite growth of the craft and microbrewing industry, however, craft beer still only accounts for 11% of total beer sales by volume in the United States, although that number is expected to rise in coming decades. While the rise of craft beer in the United States has not been defined by any single geographic area, regions of the country associated with a strong craft brewing culture include the
Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
,
Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...
, and the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
, where the majority of American hop varietals are grown. Overall, the West Coast has the most craft breweries and the
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
has the fewest.
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
is currently home to 58 breweries, more than any other city in the world.
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
,
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
,
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
,
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
and
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
have the highest number of breweries per million inhabitants in the nation.
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, Colorado,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
and Oregon have the highest total craft output, respectively. Until recently, legal restrictions have prevented craft breweries from flourishing in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
, such as limitations on the alcohol content of beer and the questionable legal status of homebrewing in many Southern states. In recent years, however,
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
has raised the limit on the alcohol content of beer from 5% to 10% ABV and has fully legalized homebrewing. Craft Beer has a rising Craft Non-Alcoholic category rising in popularity with breweries like Surreal Brewing Company in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
solely dedicated to creating
non-alcoholic beer Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol by volume that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in diff ...
.


Beer styles


Pre-Prohibition styles

Historical beer styles indigenous to the United States include California common beer or "
steam beer Steam beer, also known as California common beer, is made by fermenting lager yeast at a higher than normal temperature. Historically steam beer came from Bavaria, Germany, and is associated with San Francisco and the West Coast of the United S ...
",
Kentucky Common Beer Kentucky common beer is a once-popular style of ale from the area in and around Louisville, Kentucky from the 1850s until Prohibition. This style is rarely brewed commercially today. It was also locally known as dark cream common beer, cream beer ...
,
amber ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...
,
blonde ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at tha ...
and
cream ale Cream ale is a style of American beer that is light in color and well attenuated, meaning drier. First crafted in the mid-1800s at various breweries in the United States, cream ale remained a very localized form with different styles until th ...
.


Contemporary craft styles

Numerous beer styles have emerged in the United States since the beginnings of the craft beer movement in the 1970s, ranging from variations on traditional European styles to much more experimental ales and lagers. American craft beers frequently employ newer American hop varietals such as
Cascade Cascade, or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei ** Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high ...
, Citra, Simcoe, Willamette, or
Warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...
. These hops, developed by private growers and universities since the 1970s, contribute to the distinctiveness of many American craft beers but are especially important to the flavor of American Pale Ale (APA) and American India Pale Ale. These beers can deviate considerably from the traditional English styles they were adapted from and are often robustly bitter, resinous, or fruity. In the Pacific NorthWest in Bend, Oregon, the PNWIPA was first introduced by Deschutes Brewery in 2004. The American "double" or "imperial" IPA, a popular style credited to
Russian River Brewing Company Russian River Brewing Company is a brewery and brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa, California, with a second location in Windsor. The company is known for strong India pale ales and sour beers. History Russian River Brewing Company was created in ...
brewmaster Vinny Cilurzo, can be extremely hoppy and strong, ranging from 7–14% ABV with bitterness ratings routinely topping 90
IBUs The principal factors that characterize beer are bitterness, the variety of flavours present in the beverage and their intensity, ethanol, alcohol content, and colour. Standards for those characteristics allow a more objective and uniform determ ...
. Similarly, American stout beer, inspired by
Russian Imperial Stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally Brewing#Warm fermenting, warm fermented, such as #Dry stout, dry stout, #Oatmeal stout, oatmeal stout, #Milk stout, milk stout and #Imperial stout, imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The firs ...
, may be hoppy and high in ABV, such as Deschutes Abyss or Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, which is fermented to 15% ABV and conditioned in bourbon barrels. An emerging style associated with the Pacific Northwest is Cascadian Dark Ale, alternatively known as Black IPA, a heavily hopped beer with dark, roasted malts. Other adapted styles with distinct American variations include
Irish red ale Irish red ale (), also known as red ale or Irish ale, is a style of pale ale that is brewed using a moderate amount of kilned malts and roasted barley, giving the beer its red colour. Its strength typically ranges from 3.8% to 4.8% alcohol by vo ...
,
brown ale Brown ale is a Beer style, style of beer with a dark amber or brown colour. The term was first used by London brewers in the late 17th century to describe a lightly hopped ale brewed from 100% Mash ingredients#Malts, brown malt. Brown ale is a typ ...
, Scotch ale,
wheat beer Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a c ...
,
rye beer Rye beer is a beer in which rye is substituted for some portion of the malted barley. ''Roggenbier'' is a beer produced with up to 60% rye malt. The style originated in Bavaria, southern Germany, and is brewed with the same type of yeast as ...
and
barleywine Barley wine is a strong ale from 6–12% alcohol by volume."Barley wine"
Off Color Brewing in Chicago, focus on resurrecting styles that have been essentially extinct since the advent of
Reinheitsgebot The (; ) is a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516 (by William IV), but similar regulations predate the ...
in Germany.
Belgian beer Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
styles have also been adapted by American breweries, including
saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale-colored ale that is highly carbonated, dry, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high leve ...
,
dubbel The term dubbel (also double) is a Belgian Trappist beer naming convention. The origin of the dubbel was a strong version of a brown beer brewed in Westmalle Abbey in 1856, which is known to have been on sale to the public by June 1861. In 1926, ...
,
tripel Tripel is a term used by brewers mainly in the Low Countries, some other European countries, and the U.S. to describe a strong pale ale, loosely in the style of '' Westmalle Tripel''. The origin of the term is unknown, though the main theory i ...
, and
Belgian strong ale Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
. The lighter of these (saison, golden strong ale and tripel) beers have soft malt flavors and mild to strong "spicy" characteristics that come from yeast or the addition of spices. The darker of these beers (dubbel and dark strong ale) may have flavors of dried fruit that derives from the malts, yeast and sugar used to make them. All of these beers are high in carbonation and low in hop character.
Witbier Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a ...
, a style nearly extinct until reintroduced by Belgian brewer
Pierre Celis Pierre Celis (, 21 March 1925 – 9 April 2011) was a Belgian brewer who opened his first brewery in 1966 to revive the wit beer style in his hometown of Hoegaarden. Early life Celis was born on 21 March 1925 in his family home on the edge of ...
in the 1960s, is one of the top-selling craft beer styles in the United States.
Brewery Ommegang Brewery Ommegang is a brewery located near Cooperstown, New York, United States, that specializes in Belgian-style ales. History Ommegang began brewing Belgian-style ales in 1997. It was founded by Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield, owners ...
, Jolly Pumpkin, and
The Bruery The Bruery is an American brewing company based in Placentia, California, founded by Patrick Rue and named as a portmanteau of his family name and the word "brewery". It opened in 2008 and has produced an average of 2,500 barrels of beer annual ...
are other examples of breweries that produce Belgian-inspired beers. In 2014, Spencer Brewery, opened by the monks of
St. Joseph's Abbey St. Joseph's Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. The community of monks was founded in 1825 in Nova Scotia, Canada. In the early 20th Century, they moved to Rhode Island, and then in 1950 decided to move to Spencer. The monks ...
in
Spencer, Massachusetts Spencer is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,992 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated pl ...
, became the first certified
Trappist brewery Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain— produce beer, but the ''Authentic Trappist Product'' label is assigned ...
outside of Europe.


Pale lager and malt liquor

While craft brewing companies with myriad style offerings continue to gain market share, the best-selling style of beer made in the U.S. is still
pale lager Pale lager is a pale-to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Bre ...
, most often made by most large-scale brewers, including
Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...
and
MillerCoors MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. MillerCoors was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine their brewing, marketing and sales operations in the United States. The company was acqu ...
. These large-scale brewers also produce other popular styles, often relatively light in body, flavor and calories.
Light beer Light beer (sometimes spelled lite beer) is a pale lager that is reduced in ethanol, alcohol content or calories compared to regular beers. Light beer began to be mass marketed in the United States in the early 1970s, following test marketing and ...
, which was introduced on a large scale by Miller Brewing Company in the early 1970s, is a beer made with reduced alcohol and carbohydrate content, and has grown to eclipse many of the original pale lager brands in sales.
Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...
, brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, was the top-selling beer in the United States.
Ice beer Ice beer is a beer that has undergone some degree of freezing during production. These beers generally have a higher alcohol content, and lower price relative to it. The process of "icing" beer involves lowering the temperature until ice crystals ...
is an example which has been partially
freeze-distilled Fractional freezing is a process used in process engineering and chemistry to Separation process, separate substances with different melting points. It can be done by partial melting of a solid, for example in zone melting, zone refining of sili ...
with the intention of concentrating flavor and alcohol. The technique is based on that used to make Eisbock, but the two styles share no stylistic similarities (apart from both being lagers) otherwise.
Dry beer Pale lager is a Pale (color), pale-to-Gold (color), golden lager beer with a well-Attenuation (brewing), attenuated body and a varying degree of Hops#Noble hops, noble hop Bitterness (taste), bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmay ...
, a Japanese style based on pale lager, is also brewed by some American companies. In dry beer, the yeast is encouraged to consume more fermentables, resulting in a crisper finish and an unusually subtle hop flavor.
Malt liquor In the United States of America, Malt liquor is a type of mass market beer with high alcohol content, (typically above 5%), made with malted barley and resembling those for American-style lagers. Manufacture Malt liquor is a strong lager or ale ...
is a high-ABV pale lager. It has often incited controversy due to its alcohol content, larger-sized containers, low prices, and advertising that frequently targets
inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...
neighborhoods.


Distribution

Beer distribution in America is divided into manufacturers,
wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
s, and retailers. The
middle man Middle man or Middleman or The Middle Men may refer to: * an intermediary, which may be either a third party that offers intermediation services, or, in trade, entities or people offering value added services to a product, such as: ** a wholesaler ...
in this arrangement is a requirement of the laws in most states in order for more efficient taxation and regulation of the industry. Before
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
, beer was sold to the American people almost exclusively through saloons.Miller, Carl H. ''Breweries of Cleveland''. Cleveland: Schnitzelbank, 1998. Patrons either drank their beverage in the bar or in some cases used "growlers" (large tin pails) to bring beer home from the saloon. The vast majority of saloons in America at this time were owned or controlled by
breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
. After the end of Prohibition in 1933, states passed laws regulating the sale of alcohol, inserting an intermediary between the brewer and retailer that did not exist before, known as the distributor, supplier, or wholesaler. Breweries produce the beer, distributors transport and sell it to retailers, and retailers sell it to the public. To ensure that the incentives that resulted in over-serving and corruption before Prohibition did not exist, states adopted provisions to ensure independence of manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing in the beer industry. Delaware's Code of law states that "It shall be unlawful for a manufacturer or supplier…to own or be interested in any manner in any establishment licensed by the Commissioner to sell alcoholic liquors". This system gives the states more control over alcohol sales than before because now market participants at each of the three steps need state license to do business. Under the three-tier system taxes could be levied at three levels of the beer distribution process. Breweries pay a federal
excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...
. Distributors are taxed by the states (usually on a per volume basis), and then retailers have to pay a
sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
. While this adds much to the price of beer, it was believed higher beer prices would lead to temperance. Small breweries like this system because it ensures that large breweries cannot control the distributors and block them from the market. Tax rates vary from state to state;
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
taxes wholesalers on volume ($4.21 per barrel) and on sales (17% of the wholesale selling price). A
Standard and Poor S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is consi ...
analysis estimated that all the taxes levied during the manufacture, distribution, and retailing of beer adds up to 44% of the retail price. Another issue is the deterioration of independence between the breweries and distributors. Most distributors even label themselves as "
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
" or "
MillerCoors MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. MillerCoors was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine their brewing, marketing and sales operations in the United States. The company was acqu ...
" distributors, and recently
Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...
has strengthened incentives in its exclusivity program. While they lack the same degree of control as Pre-Prohibition times, manufacturers can still have substantial influence over what beers make it to shelves. In fact, one of the reasons InBev recently bought Anheuser-Busch was to gain access to its distribution channels. This lack of independence is especially threatening to small breweries, who claim that wholesaler independence is critical to making sure the success or failure of beer depends on consumer demand, not barriers to distribution. They would also like to see the ban lifted on contracts between brewers and wholesales, especially when they feel that incentive programs from the larger manufacturers have been getting around this ban for years. Those pushing for a more open system of beer distribution often point to recent changes in the laws concerning wine sales. All but 11 states now allow wineries to ship directly to the consumer, cutting out the wholesale middle man. The reasoning behind these laws is that because of high shipping costs, only enthusiasts looking for high end, expensive wines are taking advantage of this method, eliminating the need for temperance-inducing increased costs. Proposals to open up laws in the remaining 11 states are opposed by distributors and retailers who claim it would hurt small business, but supported by small breweries who hope the changes may spread to the beer industry as well.


See also

*
List of breweries in the United States At the end of 2017, there were total 7,450 breweries in the United States, including 7,346 craft breweries subdivided into 2,594 brewpubs, 4,522 microbreweries, 230 regional craft breweries and 104 large/non-craft breweries. From 2017 data, ac ...
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List of defunct breweries in the United States At the end of 2017, there were a total of 7,450 brewery, breweries in the United States, including 7,346 craft breweries subdivided into 2,594 Microbrewery#Brewpub, brewpubs, 4,522 Microbrewery, microbreweries, 230 regional Microbrewery#Craft brew ...
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National Beer Day (United States) National Beer Day is celebrated in the United States every year on April 7, marking the day that the Cullen–Harrison Act came into force after having been signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. April 6, the da ...


References

;Bibliography * * *


External links


A Concise History of America's Brewing Industry
EH.Net
Library of beer history
from BeerHistory.com
History of American Beer
from Beeradvocate.com.
Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer In The United States