When we first started out, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for nomadic types On soft summer nights. We’d try specialty flights paired with pub food bites, In our very First Year.
When in our Second Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for joyful treks To festivals and fairs, Sharing IPA pairs. Sure wish you’da been there, In our Second year.
When in our Third Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for sojourners on the trail for new brews, towers frothing good news. It was so hard to choose. When our Third year.
When in our Fourth Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for wanderers and good local suds served with decent grub. “We should start a pub.” When in our Fourth year.
When in our Fifth Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for rubber trampers Living on the edge blowing every keg before the next leg. When in our Fifth year.
When in our Sixth Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for living the dream beside a campfire in brewery attire with a trip to conspire. When in our Sixth year.
When in our Seventh Year, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for pilgrimage to Great North terrain. With God and propane The brew kept us sane. When in our Seventh Year.
Now, in our Eighth Year, it’s still a very good beer. We think of our life as a barrel aged stout, Nitrogenated. Uncomplicated. Emancipated. Yes, it is a very Good Year.
We brake for microbreweries.
Locally owned breweries are a safe place to enjoy the ancient elixir and make new friends.
Since we’ve been on the road, the number of breweries in America has almost doubled. In 2016 there were 5,780 breweries – last year there were 9,709.
The neighborhood brewery is an unofficial visitor information center. Most are owned and operated by long-term residents who name the brews after the local lore, claims to fame and natural wonders.
People love to talk about their hometown – especially over a beer.
Over a beer, people are more likely to open up and share their deepest insider secrets about the best places to see, eat and shop.
Chatting over a frosty beer has revealed some not-to-be-missed sights that most online tour guides completely miss.
Short History of Beer
Beer has a rich, and varied history which began at the dawn of civilization.
It is even hypothesized that beer may be a byproduct of the “Big Bang,” although I can’t seem to find a reference for this theory. 🤪
But it is well documented that beer has remained a part of human culture from the get-go.
A new study finds evidence of beer drinking 9,000 years ago in southern China. The findings are based on an analysis of an ancient pot found at a burial site at Qiaotou.
In addition to Ninkasi, the Sumerians also had Kubaba. She is the only woman on the Sumerians’ list of kings. She earned her ruling role not through her birth-line, but through her art as a brewer.
Queen Kubaba
The Egyptians worshipped the goddess of beer, Menqet, and celebrated sun god Ra’s daughter, Sekhmet, whose bloodthirsty ways were calmed by beer.
Goddess Sekhmet
A Stanford researcher may have found evidence of beer making paraphernalia dating back more than 13,000 years.
Under a microscope, Professor Li Liu of Stanford University finds and records ancient starch grains.
St. Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century German abbess, is the source of the earliest surviving writings on the use of hops in beer, and for that she is the unofficial patron saint of beer.
Patty Hamrick, a writer with a master’s in archaeological anthropology, teaches a class called The Archaeology of Beer.
Hamrick points to the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi from Mesopotamia, one of civilization’s first set of written laws, as evidence of women’s authority in beer.
The monks made and served beer for pilgrims and travelers since it was safer to drink than water.
The oldest continually working brewery, Weihenstephan Brewery, started in 768 AD and officially opened in 1040 AD.
Weihenstephan’s Taproom
Modern Craft Micro-Breweries
On a beautiful Autumn day on October 14, 1978, craft brewing experienced a renaissance when President Jimmy Carter signed H.R. 1337
President Jimmy Carter signing a bill in October 1978 (maybe H.R. 1337)
The bill contained an amendment sponsored by Senator Alan Cranston creating an exemption from taxation of beer brewed at home for personal or family use.
So, here it is, a list of the 259 breweries (update 11/30/23 – 264 breweries) we have, so far, visited since we started traveling full-time in July 2016. Now, if you’re thinking, “What, 259 breweries!?!?” Remember, we have been on the road more than 2,600 days, so that averages one brewery visit every 10 days. I call that restraint! 🍻🤪
The list is broken down by year and then alphabetized.
Year One – July 2016 to July 2017
4 Hands Brewing Company – St. Louis, Missouri
Alpha Brewing Company – St. Louis, Missouri
Barrelhouse Brewing Company – Paso Robles, California
Bay Bridge Brewing Company – Chula Vista, California
Big Bear Lake Brewing Company – Big Bear Lake, California
Big Bear Mountain Brewery – Big Bear Lake, California
Bluesapaloosa – Mammoth Lakes, California
Bricktown Brewery – Shawnee, Oklahoma
Coronado Brewing Company – Coronado, California
Courtyard Brewery – New Orleans, Louisiana
Covington Brew House – Covington, Louisiana
Duel Brewing – Sante Fe, New Mexico
Dunsmuir Brewery Works – Dunsmuir, California
Fogbelt Brewing Company – Santa Rosa, California
Goshen Brewing Company – Goshen, Indiana
Kathrin’s Biergarten – Rocklin, California
Lone Peak Brewery – Big Sky, Montana
Magic Valley Brewing – Buhl, Idaho
Mammoth Brewing Company – Mammoth Lakes, California
Miner Brewing Company – Hills City, South Dakota
Morgan Street Brewing Company – St. Louis, Missouri – house-made tater tot
Nature Coast Brewing Company – Crystal River, Florida
New Belgium Brewing Company – Ft. Collins, Colorado
Nivol Brewing Company – Panama City, Florida
Old Rail Brewing Company – Mandeville, Louisiana
Oyster City Brewing Company – Apalachicola, Florida
Pigeon Hill Brewing Company – Muskegon, Michigan
Russian River Brewing Company – Santa Rosa, California
Santa Fe Brewing Company – Sante Fe, New Mexico
Sick-N-Twisted Microbrewery – Hill City, South Dakota
Smokey Mountain Brewing Company – Knoxville, Tennessee
Snake River Brewing – Jackson, Wyoming
Unruly Brewing Company – Muskegon, Michigan
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company – St. Louis, Missouri
Urban South Brewery – New Orleans, Louisiana
Year Two – July 2017 to July 2018
Asheville Brewing Company – Asheville, North Carolina
Biloxi Brewing Company – Biloxi, Mississippi
Blue Ghost Brewing Company – Fletcher, North Carolina
Bosque Brewing Company – Las Cruces, New Mexico
Brewery 33 – Logan, Ohio
Calusa Brewing Company – Bee Ridge, Florida
Copper Point Brewing Company – Boynton Beach, Florida
Crooked Can Brewing Company – Winter Garden, Florida
Culmination Brewing – Portland, Oregon
Depoe Bay Brewing Company – Depoe Bay, Oregon
Florida Keys Brewing Company – Islamorada, Florida
Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Paso Robles, California
Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company – Melbourne, Florida
Hilton Head Brewing Company – Hilton Head, South Carolina
Humboldt Regeneration Brewery and Farm – McKinleyville, California
Karl Strauss Brewing Company – San Diego, California
Lonerider Brewery – Raleigh, North Carolina
Mad River Brewing Company – Blue Lake, California
Mills River Brewery – Arden, North Carolina
Moon River Brewing Company – Savannah, Georgia
New South Brewing Company – Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Pale Fire Brewing Company – Harrisonburg, Virginia
River Rat Brewery – Columbia, South Carolina
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company – Mills River, North Carolina
Attitude Brewing Company – Chula Vista, California
Balter Beerworks – Knoxville, Tennessee
Bandera Brewing Company – Bandera, Texas
Big Lick Brewing Company – Roanoke, Virginia
Chafunkta Brewing Company – Mandeville, Louisiana
Denali Brewing Company – Talkeetna, Alaska
Distant Brewing – Mammoth Lakes, California
Dru Bru – Cle Elum, Washington
French Broad River Brewing Company – Asheville, North Carolina
Girdwood Brewing Company – Girdwood, Alaska
Grace Ridge Brewing Company – Homer, Alaska
Haines Brewing Company – Haines, Alaska
Homer Brewing Company – Homer, Alaska
HooDoo Brewing Company – Fairbanks, Alaska
Innerspace Brewing Company – Huntsville, Alabama
Iron Tree Brewing Company – Christiansburg, Virginia
Latitude 65 Brewing Company – Fairbanks, Alaska
Meanwhile Brewing Company – Austin, Texas
New Belgium Brewing Company – Asheville, North Carolina
NOLA on Tap Beer Fest – Metairie, Louisiana
Pinthouse Brewing – Austin, Texas
Public House 28 Brewery – Chamberino, New Mexico
Seward Brewing Company – Seward, Alaska
Skull Camp Brewing Company – Mount Airy, North Carolina
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Asheville, North Carolina
Snipes Mountain Brewery – Sunnyside, Washington
Straight To Ale Brewing – Huntsville, Alabama
The Noble Pig Brewhouse – Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
Twisted Track BrewPub – Roanoke, Virginia
Zillicoah Beer Company – Woodfin, North Carolina
Year Eight – July 2023 to Now
Benford Brewing Company – Lancaster, South Carolina
Bearded Iris Brewing – Nashville, Tennessee
Common Bond Brewing Company – Montgomery, Alabama
Cooper House Project – Memphis, Tennessee
Cooper-Young BeerFest – Memphis, Tennessee
Crosstown Brewing Company – Memphis, Tennessee
The DreamChaser’s Brewery – Waxhaw, North Carolina
Fairhope Brewing Company – Fairhope, Alabama
Fertile Ground Beer Company – Jackson, Mississippi
Fire Maker Brewing Company – Atlanta, Georgia
Ghost River Brewing Company – Memphis, Tennessee
Golden Grove Farm and Brew – Piedmont, South Carolina
Gypsy Road Brewing Company – Kernersville, North Carolina
Hidden Gate Brewing Company – Greensboro, North Carolina
High Cotton Brewing Company – Memphis, Tennessee
Inner Voice Brewing Company – Decatur, Georgia
Iron Hand Brewing – Mobile, Alabama
Joy Mongers Brewing Company – Greensboro, North Carolina
Lore Brewing Company – Fort Mill, South Carolina
Memphis Made Brewing Company – Memphis, Tennessee
Monday Night Brewing – Nashville, Tennessee
Oden Brewing Company – Greensboro, North Carolina
Outrun Brewing Company – Stone Mountain, Georgia
Pig Pounder Brewing Company – Greensboro, North Carolina
Siluria Brewing Company – Alabaster, Alabama
South End Brewing Company – Greensboro, North Carolina
TennFold Brewing – Nashville, Tennessee
Three Taverns Brewery – Decatur, Georgia
Wiseacre Brewing Company – Memphis, Tennessee
Yazoo Brewing Company – Nashville, Tennessee
Yee Haw Brewing Company – Knoxville, Tennessee
As time goes on, we will update this post with new breweries.
Let us know in the comment section below if you’ve visited any of these breweries, or let us know of any breweries you think are worth the drive or, hey let’s just talk beer.