Biblical Times
Noah’s provisions on the Ark included beer.
4,000 BC
The oldest known written recipe is a formula for beer written on a clay tablet, part of an epic poem devoted to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer.
1620
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock depositing the Pilgrims in Massachusetts (because they run out of beer).
1776
Declaration of Independence is signed (many of the founding fathers including Washington and Jefferson were home brewers).
1786
Soldiers in the revolutionary army received rations of a quart of beer a day.
1876
Louis Pasteur publishes “Studies on Beer.”
1900
1,816 breweries in America. Carrie Nation begins to get attention as an aggressive supporter of prohibition who used a hatchet to destroy saloons and their liquor.
1920
The eighteenth amendment is passed outlawing the manufacture and consumption of alcohol. Prohibition begins.
1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is elected president because of his promise to end Prohibition.
1933
The legalization of beer takes effect via the twenty first amendment repealing the eighteenth. Power to regulate alcohol given to states and the three-tier system is created.
1935
The beer can is introduced.
1941-1945
Large numbers of US beer drinkers are in the armed forces; introduction of cans allows beer to travel great distances.
1950
There are 407 active breweries in the United States.
1950’s
TV advertising creates a barrier to entry to all but national and super-regional brewers.
1960
There are 229 active breweries in the United States.
1970
There are 142 active breweries in the United States.
1973
Miller Lite– the first light beer from a major beer company– is introduced by Philip Morris (owner of Miller Brewing Company).
1976
The first microbrewery “New Albion” opens In California. (Note: it’s ahead of its time and does not survive.)
1978
Homebrewing is legalized by the Federal government (Jimmy Carter signs it into law).
1983
The top six breweries (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Heileman, Stroh, Coors, and Pabst) control 92% of U. S. beer production.
1984
44 brewing companies operate a total of 83 breweries.
1985
Jim Koch launches Sam Adams. Three months later, it is voted best beer in the United States at the Great American Beer Festival.
1987
Legal drinking age is raised to 21 in all 50 states.
1995
Approximately 500 breweries are operating in the United States.
1996
A record 333 new brewpubs and microbreweries open in one year.
1998
1,463 breweries are operating in America.
2008
Miller and Coors combine their U.S. operations into a single entity – MillerCoors.
2008
InBev buys Anheuser-Busch creating the world’s largest beer company.