The History Of American Home Brewing
At first, home beer brewing was illegal in America, before the laws changed and made America one of the top producing beer countries on the 90′s… and now we see the decline once again with the tough economic times forcing many companies out of business and into bankruptcy. This has of course led to more and more people drinking to drown their sorrows, so to speak, but many more are actually turning this lust for beer into a productive past time by starting their own home brewery… and what a way to go!
Now we all know that back way way in the olden days, home beer brewing was a major and accepted pastime practiced by the colonial people. One thing you might not know that even famous people such as the Great George Washington was an avid home beer brewer, as was Thomas Jefferson and friends!
During the prohibition, no one was allowed to brew their own drinks at home. A penalty of one thousand dollars was imposed on those who were caught – and back then one thousand dollars went a long way. Either that or they were sentenced one year imprisonment. Everybody had to content with a watered down lifeless beer – well not really beer but something which was a very poor substitute for it. Nothing substantially alcoholic was allowed and few took efforts in making their drinks less alcoholic but tasty. Thirsty daring beer lovers stealthily bought ingredients and beer brewing equipment. Some very enterprising shop owners found ways of selling them without associating them with beer making or anything about beer at all. Beer ingredients, after all, are as normal as other ingredients – grains, yeast, etcetera, and the equipment – buckets, vats, what really is there to question when they are put up for sale? The situation varied from state to state. In some states, only those selling home brews were caught while in some, brewing for personal consumption also meant facing legal charges. And since ingredients and materials had to be sold and bought discreetly, there really was nothing much to experiment on. Those years could probably be considered the dark ages for home brewing.
In 1935, the law was improvised a bit. Home wine making was allowed without taxes but to brew beer, the interested party must first secure permits and comply with regulations. But despite the heavy regulations, some beer advocates pooled their efforts to promote home brewing. One of the greats in the field, Charlie Papazian first entered the scenario during this time and taught home brewing classes. However, government maintained that unregulated home brewing was still unlawful as any type of brewing could still be employed by moonshiners.
Jimmy carter was responsible for lifting prohibition and giving home brewers the opportunity to brew beer in their American homes without any problems. Today, there are over 1,463 breweries in the United States, a much improved American home brewing state… this is much to the efforts off Jimmy in 1978… bless his soul!
American Home Brewing is alive and booming today, so naturally it’s time to sit down, relax, and enjoy a home brew. For those still not up to speed with home brewing beer, follow the link to discover more!
Tags: america, american home brewing, Beer, beer brewing, history, history of home brewing, hobby, home brewing, legislation, prohibition, wine, wine brewing
