American craft beer
Although there was a small brewing industry already in the 17th century—the first American brewery opened in what is now Manhattan in 1612—, the real expansion of brewing in the US started in the 19th century, when the number of breweries increased from 132 in 1810 to 4,131 in 1873. But this expansion was halted due to prohibition years—in 1919, the 18th Amendment enforced National Prohibition, that endured until 1933, when the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th. Just a year after the end of the Prohibition, there were already 756 breweries making beer but there were soon bought out by bigger industrial breweries. This trend continued until in 1983 there were just 80 breweries in the US.
But at the same time, something was already moving and the American Craft Beer movement was making its first steps. In 1965, Anchor Brewing was founded and in 1972 they released the first American Porter released in the US since before the Prohibition. This very same year, Cascade hops are made available, being one of the most characteristic ingredients since Sierra Nevada released its pale ale, giving birth to the American Pale Ale style. Since them, the number of craft brewer have been constantly increasing, reaching 5,000 in 2016, with top breweries like Toppling Goliath, Russian River, Bell's, AleSmith, Three Floyds, Bristol Brewing Company or Surly Brewing.
Spanish craft beer
Belgian craft beer
Irish craft beer
Brazilian craft beer
French craft beer
Polish craft beer
Portuguese craft beer
Canadian craft beer
Croatian craft beer
Estonian craft beer
German craft beer
UK craft beer
American beer brands
Bell’s
Bell´s Brewery was founded by Larry Bell in Michigan, USA in 1983, under the name Kalamazoo Brewing. They started brewing in a 57l. soup kettle and with open fermenters covered with plastic wrap. In the 90´s, the brewery started growing and selling outside of its state, also becoming the first Michigan brewery to open a pub to serve their own crafts. In 2005, they changed their name officialy to Bell´s Brewery. Most of their beer are seasonal brews, like the worldwide famous Expedition Stout, but they also have some beers all year round, like Two Hearted Ale—one of the best rated beers in Ratebeer.
Go to Bell’s
Evil Twin
Evil Twin is a gypsy brewery founded in 2010 by Jeppe Bjergsø. Jeppe is the twin brother of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, founder of Mikkeller. Jeppe was the owner of Ølbutikken, a small beer shop in the Vesterbro neighbourhood in Copenhagen, who comercialized Mikkeller beers until Mikkel opened his own bar few meters away from the shop, causing Jeppe to go out of the company. In 2010, Jeppe founded Evil Twin and established himself in New York, and it was not until 2019 that he set up his own brewery in Queens.
Go to Evil Twin
Oskar Blues
Oskar Blues was originally founded by Dale Katechis in Lyons, Colorado (USA) in 1997 as a Original Grill & Brew Restaurant—a Cajun-style restaurant. Its brewing activity started in the restaurant basement in 1999. The name of the brewery comes from two friends that Dale met on a bike tour—named Oskar and Old Blue.
They are considered the pioneers of the use of cans incraft beers in the US, since the release of Dale´s Pale Ale in 2002, and they are the largest brewery in the US to have abbandoned crystal bottles in favour of cans.
Go to Oskar Blues
Three Floyds
Three Floyds Brewing is a brewery from Indiana, USA, founded in 1996 by Nick and Simon Floyd and thier father Mike Floyd. They have recurrently placed as the top brewery in the world according to Ratebeer, and one of their beers, Dark Lord, is rated as the 15th best beer in the world.
Go to Three Floyds
Surly Brewing
Surley Brewing is a brewery from Minneapolis (USA), founded in 2005 by Omar Ansari and Todd Haug. Omar had a background in homebrewing. In 2011, the brewery was already succesful enough, so they tried to open a brew pub to sell beer onsite, discovering that a law from prohibition era was still standing and preventing breweries to sell onsite. After working with legislator, they managed to pass the Surly Bill in 2011 allowing them to start selling beer onsite. After that, in 2014, they finished their new brewery in Minneapolis, expanding capacity, and allowing them to sell another states in USA.
Go to Surly Brewing
Dark Horse
Dark Horse is a brewery founded by Bill Morse in Michigan (USA). The brewery started as a restaurant, and turned into a brewpub in 1998, and in 2000 they moved to their current facilities where they have the brewery and a taproom. Most of their brewery was build by the founders, from the building to the electrical systems. In 2014 they were featured in a 6-months TV show called Dark Horse Nation about the day to day at the brewery. Their best hit is Crooked Tree IPA, which takes up to 40% of the brewery total production.
Go to Dark Horse
Stillwater Artisanal
Stillwater Artisanal is a gypsy brewery founded in 2010 by former DJ Brian Stumke. Brian had been experimenting since 2004 with unconventional brewing styles, using herbs, spices and wild yeasts. His labels are created by childhood friend and tatoo artist Lee Verzosa, inspired in the psych aesthetic from the 60's music.
Go to Stillwater Artisanal
Finback
Finback is an American brewery founded in USA in 2011 by Basil Lee and Kevin Stafford. Their name comes from an actual Finback whale that beached near New York. Both had been homebrewing partners for a while, they opened a brewery in Queen's (New York) after developing the project with the help of the Small Business Development Center of Universtity of Manhattan. They finally released their fist beer in 2014 after finding their current production facility. They both have creative backgrounds so they also take care of all brand and visual design.
Go to Finback
Against The Grain
Against The Grain is a brewery from Lousville, Kentucky (USA), founded by Jerry Gnagy and Sam Cruz in 2011, after purchasing and old restaurant called Brownies and turning it into a functioning brewery after 3 months. In 2014, they opened a new factory in Louisville, where they started to produce canned barrel-aged beers.
Go to Against The Grain
Barrier Brewing
Barrier Brewing is a brewery located in Long Island (USA). It was founded in 2010 by Evan Klein, after having some training at Sixpoint Brewery. In 2012 they moved to a new brewery, that was soon damaged by hurricane Sandy. They reopened in 2013 and succesfully expanded until reaching a production of 20.000 Hl a year.
Go to Barrier Brewing