Beer and craft brewing oral history interviews
Creation: 2015-2016Abstract
Craft beer is defined by the Brewers Association as being a small brewery (six million barrels of beer or less annually), independent (less than 25 percent owned by a non-craft brewer industry member), and traditional (in reference to ingredients, fermentation, flavor, and alcohol volume). This collection contains a series of interviews conducted in 2015 and 2016 on the business of craft brewing in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The collection includes interviews with brewers and brewery owners from Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.
Dates
- Creation: 2015-2016
Creator
- Hagley Museum and Library. Library. Oral History Project Office (Organization)
- Hargreaves, Gregory (staff) (Interviewer, Person)
Extent
23.6 Gigabytes
General Physical Description note
23 WAV Files.
Historical Note
Craft beer is defined by the Brewers Association as being a small brewery (six million barrels of beer or less annually), independent (less than 25 percent owned by a non-craft brewer industry member), and traditional (in reference to ingredients, fermentation, flavor, and alcohol volume). While the history of beer goes back to antiquity, the history craft beer is often traced back to 1965 with Frederick Louis "Fritz" Maytag III (1937- ). Maytag purchased Anchor Brewing Company upon hearing the business was due to close. Within ten years the company turned a profit. The second craft brewery started operation in 1976. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, craft brewing gradually began to rise in popularity, reaching over 2,000 craft breweries in 2012.
Scope and Content
This collection contains a series of interviews conducted in 2015 and 2016 on the business of craft brewing in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The collection includes interviews with brewers, brewery owners, retailer/wholesalers, restaurant owners, the Director of the Brewing Sciences Program at the University of the Sciences, and the Commissioner of Alcoholic Beverage Control of Delaware. One interview is a narrated tour of a brewing facility.
Subjects covered in these interviews include: the brewing process, the science and technology behind brewing, consumer culture, marketing and selling, production and distribution, quality control, retailing, and brew pub operations. Interviewees discuss their careers and experiences in the industry, exploring the brewery as a workplace, a business start-up, and business development. Additionally, interviews were conducted that cover packaging (canning), designing and building a brewery, and the politics around regulating the alcohol business.
Existence and Location of Originals
This collection is available in the Hagley Digital Archives.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Beer and craft brewing oral history interviews
- Date:
- 2016
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository
