With 40-plus years in the Pacific Northwest beer industry, Larry Sidor struck out on his own, founding the new Bend, Ore., institution Crux Fermentation Project.
Wyoming brewpub Thai Me Up has garnered attention for its boundary-pushing beers with names referencing Wu-Tang Clan songs it cranks out from a tiny 3-barrel system.
Sean Lynch launched the Clean Beer Project, which travels to bars in New York City, scrubs down beer lines, and lets patrons know via Twitter that their favorite bar is now squeaky clean.
Piney River Brewing Company is located 5 miles outside of Bucyrus, Mo., an unincorporated community small enough that the brewery’s first distributor had never heard of it.
Since 1992, Brian Hunt’s little Santa Rosa brewery Moonlight Brewing Company has been churning out small batches of ales and lagers that are uniquely rooted in Northern California.
In addition to hosting the state premiere of breweries like Drie Fonteinen, Oklahoma City watering hole Oak & Ore supports and effects positive change in the region.
Located in a tiny town in rural Oregon, Steens Mountain Brewing is one of the state’s smallest breweries. Most of its beers are brewed with hops owner Richard Roy has discovered in the wild.
When the father-son duo opened up the Funky Bow Beer Company on a southern Maine farm, they turned it into a massive indoor-outdoor living room, replete with pets, bonfires and bluegrass music.
In 2012, three men launched one of the first craft breweries in Russia’s former capital. Now a handful of likeminded gypsy brewers in St. Petersburg are leading the country’s nascent beer renaissance.
Two hours north of Montreal, this 5-barrel brewpub is housed in a 150-year-old building that once served as a general store. Its small town of Saint-Tite also hosts a rodeo every September.
Dustin Jeffers has lived South Florida’s brewing evolution. When he arrived as a transplant from the Northeast, his go-to beers were as likely to come from his own kitchen as they were from a local commercial outfit. In late 2013, he helped open Delray Beach’s Saltwater Brewery.
Knowing that there was a need in Wichita for a craft beer bar that focused on serving local ingredients, business partners Brooke and Travis Russell and Drew Thompson opened Public at the Brickyard in 2012.
What started with a taste of real ale on a 1987 trip to Europe drew Steve Hamburg back to the UK over 40 times, and led him to co-found Chicago’s Real Ale Festival in 1996.
Located right at the base of Teton Pass, a popular backcountry skiing spot, Grand Teton Brewing Company has cultivated both a strong après-ski culture and a philanthropic culture in its 28-year legacy.
Trevor Williams co-founded Columbus, Ohio’s Hoof Hearted Brewing with a pair of college buddies, Jared and Ryan Bichon, in 2011. They crank out bold, aromatic beer that’s influenced by hops, hair metal and video game culture.
In 2011 Jonathan Tvrdik opened Nebraska’s Krug Park, named after an amusement park and beer garden built in 1895 by Frederick Krug, an Omaha legend who operated Krug Brewing Company.
When Ludger Berges opened his boutique bottle shop in Berlin four years ago, the city’s craft brewing scene was just starting to take shape. Since then, Berlin’s craft beer market has exploded.
Since launching Victory in 1996, Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet have remained true to their founding principles. When it came time to expand, they added a second production facility in Pennsylvania even as their distribution has grown.
Proclamation Ale Company’s origin story is simple: Dave Witham thought his beers were tasty, and his friends thought they were tasty, so he founded a brewery.
Bart Watson is the Brewers Association numbers guy, hired in 2013 as its chief economist. When the association issues a press release announcing the total number of US breweries has reached an all-time high in 2015, he is the spokesman quoted.
With reclaimed wood, vintage beer signs and photos from the Wisconsin Historical Society adorning the walls, The Old Fashioned is a cozy and inviting place. But what makes the spot special, is its steadfast dedication to local beer.
