Overview List of all Breweries Articles Bibliography & links Northwest Indiana South Bend / Mishawaka Northeast Indiana West Central Indiana North Central Indiana Fort Wayne Terre Haute Lafayette East Central Indiana Southwest Indiana Indianapolis / Hamilton Co. / Johnson Co. Southeast Indiana Evansville New Albany / Clarksville / Jeffersonville

A Brief History of Brewing in Indiana

We've endeavored to research the many breweries that have existed in Indiana but we are not professionals at this. There are a lot of gaps. If you can help with any information or If you see any errors or omissions, please let us know.

This information is separated into 7 metropolitan areas and 7 regions as shown on the map above.

Here's some quick facts to get you started.

The first commercial brewery in Indiana (Boswell's) seems to have been built around 1817 near Richmond. The J. & W. L. Coleman brewery in Vincennes opened in 1818.

By 1863 53,000 bbl of beer were brewed in Indiana (Just 5% of the output of New York state). That more than tripled by 1875 due to the economic growth following the Civil War. By 1902 almost 1 million barrels were brewed in Indiana (almost 10% of New York's volume). In 1913, barrelage was 1,441,110.

The Indianapolis Star stated the number of breweries in the state in 1904 was 41 and by 1914 this was down to 31 (the number of brewery employees, though, had increased to 2,207).

National Prohibition, of course, shut down all the legitimate breweries in Indiana by 1918. (There was a state prohibition law in the 1850s which was invalidated by Judge Perkins of the state Supreme Court.)

The state of Indiana issued 11 brewery (and 100 wholesaler) licenses in November, 1935: These went to:

* Source: The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976
M. Friedrich & D. Bull

Major Indiana Breweries of Bygone Days

Indiana Brewers Associations

The Indiana Brewers Association was formed in 1898. Albert Lieber was the secretary of the IBA in the 1890s. James S. Corbett was president in 1901. Charles F. Hartmetz of Evansville was president in 1908. At that time 23 of the total 46 breweries in the state were members.

Adolph B. Schmidt, president of F.W. Cook in Evansville was the president during the 1930s. Harold Feightner was the executive director from 1934 until 1968.

In 1948 the IBA published a book entitled Social and economic advantages of repeal: A yearbook of information about legalized alcoholic beverages in Indiana authored by Harold Feightner.

Other than that, not much published is available. Many references to IBA members are made by various prohibitionist organizations (example). We also have found an article where the former Governor of Indiana claims the IBA controlled the state government and all brewers should be shot.

The Indianapolis Brewers' Association existed from 1898 through 1907.

In 1909, the Association of Indiana Brewers was formed to fight local option laws being promoted by the Indiana Anti-Saloon League. Officers of the AIB included President Stephen B. Fleming of Berghoff, Vice President Michael Doussman of Evansville Brewing, and  Secretary J. R. Johnston. They had 24 member breweries and were a member branch of the United States Brewers' Association. They had a Indiana Brewers' Vigilance Bureau to monitor the legality of sales in wet areas but took no responsibility for sales in dry cities.

By 1910, 70 of the 96 counties were dry and 2608 taverns had been closed.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild was formed in the 1990s to represent brewers in the state legislature, raise money for charity through beer festivals, promote craft beer, and increase communications between breweries. The first President was John Hill, owner of the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Blaine Stucky of Mad Anthony's and Ted Miller of Brugge Brasserie followed John Hill in that post.

Modern Era Indiana Microbreweries

The microbrewery revolution hit Indiana in 1989 and since then 49 breweries have opened (although 15 of these have closed).

This entire article as a compilation is copyright 2004, 2007, 2009, Bob Ostrander.
Copy and use of the information here is freely allowed for non-commercial purposes.
Some information and pictures are copyrights of other authors
and used here by permission or under fair use provisions.

Many pictures are from Bruce Mobley who is a bottle collector and dealer.
His web site, particularly the Indiana page, is an invaluable reference.