Buffalo Bill's Brewery is the first
brewpub
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
in America.
Buffalo Bill's opened their doors on September 9, 1983, and brewed their first batch of beer on August 2, 1983.
In 2018, Buffalo Bill's was inducted into the
Smithsonian American History Museum as one of the most historic brewpubs in America. Buffalo Bill's closed on June 2, 2022 due to rising business costs and the pandemic.
History and influence
Before 1983, it was illegal for a brewer to sell directly to the consumer, but that changed in 1982 when Assemblyman,
Tom Bates
Thomas H. Bates (born February 9, 1938) was the 21st mayor of Berkeley, California, and a member of the California State Assembly. Bates is married to Loni Hancock, another former mayor of Berkeley and State Assembly member who served in the ...
, wrote California Assembly Bill 3610. This bill allowed brewers to sell directly to consumers provided food was served. On January 1, 1983 it became law and the term "
brewpub
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
" was officially coined.
Buffalo Bill's was founded in 1983 by
Bill Owens, a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
photographer and in 1994 the brewery was purchased by then brewer, Geoff Harries.
Buffalo Bill's is credited with creating the beer styles:
Amber Ale
Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Diff ...
(Buffalo Amber, 1983),
Pumpkin Ale (America's Original Pumpkin Ale, 1986), and
Double IPA (Hearty Ale, 1987).
Owens is also credited with creating one of the first craft
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
s in 1987, Alimony Ale. Slogans included "The Bitterest Beer in America", and "It's Irreconcilably Different".
Buffalo Bill's impact on the burgeoning craft beer movement was noted in nationwide press with
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
"
wens hastaken a very ordinary beverage, brewed it in an offbeat manner, and come up with some highly select idiosyncratic beer. How about Pumpkin Ale made with mashed pumpkins? Or a beer he calls Tasmanian Devil because it's made with Tasmanian hops." and
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
recognizing Owen's efforts towards "legislation that could open the spigots for a nationwide surge of brewpubs and microbreweries."
Publications
Prior to opening Buffalo Bill's, Owens authored the book "How to Build A Small Brewery" in 1981. It was revised and expanded in 1989, and again in 1992 in collaboration with Harries. By this time it had sold over 30,000 copies. With the introduction of "How to Build a Small Brewery", many home brewers switched from extract brewing to grain brewing—a significant advancement in
homebrewing
Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...
for its time.
Owens published "How to Build a Small Brewery", "American Brewer Magazine", "Beer the Magazine", "The Brewpub Manual", and a series of maps which chronicled the early craft beer movement in Northern California, from within Buffalo Bill's.
See also
*
List of California breweries
*
Beer in the United States
Beer in the United States is manufactured by more than 7,000 breweries, which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels () of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly of beer ...
*
List of microbreweries
This is a list of notable microbreweries. A microbrewery is a brewery which produces a limited amount of beer. The qualifications to be classified as a microbrewery vary by country. The term "microbrewery" originated in the United Kingdom in the l ...
*
Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is an American trade group of over 5,400 brewers, breweries in planning, suppliers, distributors, craft beer retailers, and individuals particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing.
Two of ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.buffalobillsbrewery.com/
Beer brewing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Companies based in Hayward, California
1983 establishments in California
Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area
Culture of Hayward, California
American beer brands
Privately held companies of the United States