Buffalo Bill's Brewery is an American

brewpub Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

Hayward, California Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

, notable for being the first brewpub 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.

History and influence

Before 1983, it was illegal for a brewer to sell directly to the consumer. In 1982, Assemblyman Tom Bates wrote California Assembly Bill 3610, which would allow brewers to sell directly to consumers provided food was served. On January 1, 1983, it was signed into law and the term "

" was officially coined. Buffalo Bill's was founded in 1983 by Bill Owens, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

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 in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

(Buffalo Amber, 1983), Pumpkin ale (1986), and Double IPA (Hearty Ale, 1987). Owens is also credited with creating one of the first craft IPAs in 1987, the Alimony Ale. Slogans for the Alimony Ale included "The Bitterest Beer in America" and "It's Irreconcilably Different". Buffalo Bill's impact on the burgeoning craft beer movement was noted in ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' magazine: " 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."

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

recognized Owen's efforts towards "legislation that could open the spigots for a nationwide surge of brewpubs and microbreweries." Buffalo Bill's closed on June 2, 2022, due to rising business costs and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The business reopened on August 7, 2023 under new ownership.

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. In addition to ''How to Build a Small Brewery'', Owens also published ''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.

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

History and influence

Publications

See also

References

External links