In the middle to late 1800s, immigrants from Northern and Western Europe came to America, escaping famine and looking for opportunities. Many demanded a style of beer more suited to what was found back home. For some, that meant lager. Until then, beer in America typically meant a British-style ale, brewed locally and made with top-fermenting yeast. Lager benefited from better cooling and sanitation methods that were available. As a result, brewers could increase output to satisfy the demand. Per capita consumption of beer went from fewer than 4 gallons in 1865 to almost 20 gallons in 1915, a 500 percent increase in 50 years. Here are some of the most important dates in the history of beer. (These are the best craft beers from each of the 50 states.)
1754 – George Washington enters a beer recipe into his notebook.
1819 – Francis Perot uses the first steam engine in his Philadelphia brewery.
1826 – The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance forms in Boston. In three years, its membership reaches more than 100,000.
1829 – David G. Yuengling opens a brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, that remains America’s oldest still in operation.
1844 – Jacob Best starts a brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, later known as Pabst Brewing Co.
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1846 – Maine becomes the first state to pass a prohibition law.
1849 – August Krug forms a brewery in Milwaukee that becomes Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.
1850 – Bernhard Stroh established Lion’s Head Brewery in Detroit, Michigan, later renamed The Stroh Brewery Co.
1852 – George Schneider launches a brewery in St. Louis, Missouri, that later becomes industry giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.
1854 – Frederick Miller purchases the Plank-Road Brewery near Milwaukee, later renamed Miller Brewing Co.
1858 – Gottlieb Heileman and John Gund launch City Brewery, later called G. Heileman Brewing Co., in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
1873 – Adolph Coors and Denver confectioner Jacob Schueler convert an abandoned tannery in Golden, Colorado, into Golden Brewery, today the largest single-site brewery in the world.
1873 – Adolphus Busch, partner in Anheuser-Busch Brewing, begins pasteurizing his beer.
1919 – After 36 states ratify the resolution, the secretary of state proclaims the 18th Amendment part of the Constitution, effective January 16, 1920.
1932 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins the presidency over incumbent Herbert Hoover on a platform that includes repealing the ban.
1933 – Congress proposes the 21st Amendment to repeal Prohibition. Utah provides the final vote to institute the change.
1935 – American Can Co. and G. Krueger Brewing Co. introduce canned beer.
1959 – Coors Brewing Co. introduces aluminum cans.
1962 – Pittsburg Brewery Co. introduces pull tabs on cans of its Iron City beer.
1967 – Meister Brau in Chicago, Illinois, introduces light beer made from a recipe devised by biochemist-turned-brewer Joseph L. Owades.
1977 – Jack McAuliffe starts New Albion Brewing Co. in Sonoma, California, the first modern craft brewery.
1982 – Bert Grant opens Grant’s Brewery Pub in Yakima, Washington. It’s the first since Prohibition to sell food along with beer brewed on the premises.
