Brad Saliga

It may seem like craft beer is a relatively new phenomenom, specifically in the Unites States. However the art of brewing dates as far back as ancient Egypt!

American craft breweries were very widespread before the prohibition act of the 1920's. After prohibition there was a surge of independent breweries across the U.S., but many went out of business as corporate mega breweries such as Bud and Miller dominated the market. Only a few small independent craft breweries survived like Anchor Brewing.

In the 1980's a resurgence of American craft brewers started to sprout up from the grassroots homebrewing culture that immerged in the wake of the commercially driven light-lager beers that dominated the market--such breweries as the Boston Brewing Company took the lead, carving out a new niche in American culture.

Forget wine when it comes to fine dining, craft beer is paving the way in sophisticated taste. Today craft breweries and the market and appreciation for craft beer is growing faster than ever before.

Now many people don't understand the difference between 'craft beer' and the watered down light beer that fills the shelves in stores with their 24 packs.

So what is craft beer? Well its kind of hard to define since the craft beer landscape is as varied as its brewers and breweries. However there are three main common characteristics that all craft brewers can identify with:

  • Craft beer is kept on a small scale (annual production of 6,000,000 barrels and less).
  • Breweries are independant (less than 25% percent is owned by someone who is not a craft brewer themselves).
  • A brewer is traditional, they have either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

I found my way to craft beer like a lot of brewers do, through family. My family didn't have any history with the culture, but it was my dads thirst for a new hobby that led him to buying a still to make liqour, among other things, that caught my attention, and eventually led me to what I saw myself doing with the rest of my life, making beer.

*(check out the breweries mentioned above in the links below)