The
brewery also gives
tours, sells
merchandise with their
rocking logo and is a miniature
art gallery housing the work of local artists.
The history of the company is as unique as its beer and its "Support your Local Brewery" philosophy.
The company was started in 1984 when Steve Hindy, a correspondent for the Associated Press returned from the Middle East with a penchant for homebrewing that he had acquired while living and working in Islamic countries where, of course, alcoholic beverages are illegal.
Together with his fellow Brooklynite and downstairs neighbor Tom Potter, Hindy formed what would eventually become the Brooklyn Brewery. With very little funding, the operation was very grassroots in the beginning. The two entrepreneurs brewed, bottled, labeled, and peddled their beer themselves around Brooklyn.
Being beer afficionados, the two friends had knowledge of Brooklyn's fantastic brewing history. A century ago, there were 48 functional and profitable breweries in Brooklyn. The breweries and pubs were civic centers and gathering places. Integral to the feel and pulse of the neighborhood. But slowly the juggernaut of big industry started to produce beer in mass quantities that was much cheaper (and of lower quality to say the least. The local breweries slowly died off. The last one closed its doors in 1976.
Back in Brooklyn a decade later, two lone brewers were finding it hard to break into the distribution market, which was mostly controlled by the much larger companies. Steve and Tom, whose product was quickly growing in popularity (due probably to the influx of bohemians from the East Village that settled in Williamsburg) decided to start their own distribution company.
Brooklyn Brewery is now also one of the major distributors for all of the best imported and local beers coming into the New York State area. Total Beer.com is a company of theirs that delivers any of a huge selection of beers directly to your doorstep in a number of quantities. And Brooklyn Brewery Beer is enjoyed around the world.