If you’ve been following Erik’s debate over the origins of the craft brew movement, you might be interested in the story of Jack McAuliffe, a beer enthusiast who built the first modern microbrewery in 1976.
McAuliffe comes off sounding like the Velvet Underground of amateur brewers – although his New Albion Brewing Co. went under in 1982, he inspired dozens of more famous imitators. Now he’s coming out of retirement to collaborate with Sierra Nevada. Sounds delicious.
Don’t forget about some of the wealthy patrons of the early craft movement as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Louis_Maytag_III
He was turning out “microbrew” beer in the early 70s with Anchor Steam.Report