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Beer Microbreweries - Microbrewery
A microbrewery, or craft brewery, is a term used to describe a tiny commercial brewery. Most Americans think of a microbrewery as their local neighborhood brewed beer.
In the early twentieth century, Prohibition drove many breweries into bankruptcy because they could not rely on selling "sacramental wine" as wineries of that era did. After several decades of consolidation of breweries, most American commercial beer was produced by a few very large corporations, resulting in a very uniform mild-tasting lager of which Budweiser is a well-known example. Consequently, some beer drinkers craving variety turned to home brewing and eventually a few started doing so on a slightly larger scale. For inspiration, they turned to Britain, Germany, and Belgium, where a centuries-old tradition of artisan beer and cask ale production had never died out. The popularity of these products was such that the trend quickly spread, and hundreds of small breweries sprang up, often attached to a bar (known as a "brewpub") where the product could be enjoyed, usually with some food. As microbrews proliferated, some became more than microbrews, necessitating the definition of the broader category of craft beer - high quality, generally all-malt, beer.
American microbreweries typically distribute through a wholesaler in a traditional three-tier system, act as their own distributor and sell to retailers and directly to the consumer through a tap room, attached restaurant, or off-premise sales. Many of the microbreweries sell their beer to customers directly. For those times that you don't feel like hanging out at home, and the thought of a store bought bottled beer is not sitting well with you, your best bet is to head down to your local pub or microbrewery for a fresh local brew. Be the local BrewHog and meet new people, drink some great beer and have fun. Microbreweries are a great place to meet people and hang out. |
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The term and trend originated
in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s to describe the new generation
of small breweries which had a focus on producing traditional cask
ale. Though originally used to reflect the size of the breweries
it gradually came to reflect an alternative attitude and approach
to brewing of flexibility, adaptability, experimentation and customer
service. The term microbrewery eventually spread across the USA
where it eventually was used to indicate a brewery that produces
less than 15,000 barrels of beer annually.