our History

Prior to alcohol prohibition in the US from 1919 to 1933, small, locally owned and operated breweries were the norm. However, prohibition and industry consolidation, driven by the advent of inexpensive refrigeration and transportation and the growing economic and political power of large corporate brewers, saw local and regional breweries disappear.

The 21st Amendment to the US Constitution, which ended prohibition also legalized wine making, but perhaps inadvertently (or not) did not legalize the home brewing of beer. Thus many who would be professional brewers never became home brewers. As the existence of local breweries faded, so did the craft of brewing generally.

Home brewing remained illegal until President Carter signed into law legislation that allowed adults to produce beer for personal use. However, the legislation still had restrictions which did not allow for transportation of home brewed beer nor brewpubs (restaurants which produced their own beer and sold it on premise). Most states also had prohibitions against brewers selling directly to the public or direction to retailer, demanding that those sales be made instead to a licensed wholesaler . For half a century these rules made if difficult and often impossible for entrepreneurs to birth and grow new breweries across the United States.

In the early 1980’s, beginning in California, laws such as these were recognized for their inequity and became subject to reform. BBC Founder Jeff Mease worked closely with Indiana legislators Mark Kruzan and Vi Simpson in the early 1990’s to change the law in Indiana. That successful change in state law has led to about 50 operating small breweries in the State of Indiana, each of them creating jobs and vibrancy in their communities.