Microbreweries produce less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year and serve local or regional markets. They have a long history, dating back to before refrigeration, and have experienced a resurgence in popularity. There are currently over 1,600 microbreweries in the US, and they claim about 3% of the market share. Microbrewed beer is known for its taste, body, and flavor, and many brewers and homebrewers cite these qualities as reasons for their existence.
Microbreweries are small breweries that serve local or regional markets. To qualify as a microbrewery, the facility must produce fewer than 15,000 barrels (178,841 decalitres) each year.
Small local breweries are not a new idea. Before the days of refrigeration, most towns and villages had a brewery, as beer could not be transported before it went bad. After refrigerated shipping became possible, most of the local breweries closed in favor of larger, more consistent breweries like Miller and Anheiser Busch.
Home brewers still brewed their own beer, mostly for reasons of taste. During the prohibition years, all beer was brewed at home, as the sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal by law. After the ban was lifted, many home brewers with the encouragement of friends and families began selling their beers in local bars. Thus, the microbrewery was reborn.
The first to actually use the term microbrewery was a small operation that opened in 1976 in Sonoma, California. The oldest still operating today is Boulder Brewery in Colorado, which opened in 1979. Boulder Brewery began its operations in a converted goat shed but has since expanded into a modern building.
Breweries are a natural progression from microbreweries. Selling only its own brewed beer, the first to open was in an opera house in Yakima, Washington in 1982. The most famous brewery and microbrewery is Redhook Ale and it was opened in an old barn by a former executive of Starbucks and a winemaker.
America’s largest cities have several microbreweries, and many have breweries. While microbreweries aren’t real competition for major breweries, they claim about 3% of the market share. In response to this, most of the major brewers started their own microbrewery lines, starting with their branded beers.
There are currently more than 1,600 microbreweries in operation in the United States alone. The number of home brewers is not known, but the brewers of both home breweries and microbreweries cite the same reasons for their existence. The taste, body and overall flavor of the microbrewed beer outperforms the leading brands. Most microbreweries produce beers and lagers, which are generally more robust than regular beer.
Most brewers will claim that after drinking micro brewed beer, customers will never want to go back to the pale, tasteless beer that comes in a can.
There are dozens of books and websites available to help you get started with building your own microbrewery. With a little experimentation, you just might discover the next great beer.
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