These craft beers are staple in American supermarkets and liquor stores, but did you know they might never have existed if it weren't for a bill signed by former president and former peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter?
President Carter is remembered in relation to peanuts, but you know, it would be very fair to think about beer when you think about Carter as well.
When President Carter signed his law, I do remember there was a lot of jubilation.
The industry was just starting to come together to support home brew shops and home brewing.
The bill that Carter signed into law in 1978 legalized home brewing and jumpstarted the American craft brew industry.
Today, the big brewers still dominate the beer market, but craft beer makes up 13.1% of the total market.
Since 1990, the vast majority of new breweries have been craft breweries, whereas the number of non-craft brewers has seen little growth.
But long before Carter launched the craft beer boom that we know today, the legacy of prohibition loomed large over American beer.
When prohibition was repealed in 1933, the federal government looked back to how it had regulated home alcohol production prior to prohibition.
Because there had been no previous specific mention of beer, they made no specific mention of beer when they were repealing prohibition.
