In 2013, after discussing some ideas for opening a brewery in Amarillo, my friend Grant James and I had an epiphany that we would soon learn was not entirely original. Our sudden inspirational idea was to try to build a co-op brewery of some kind. We did not know exactly what this meant, nor had we researched it, so the idea was truly inspired if not entirely complete. I remember that we batted around some other ideas before we settled on the cooperative model, and even though we didn’t know what the implications of a cooperative brewery would be, we both felt it was just the right framework for our dream. And that’s when the research began; or just sort of happened is more like it. While reviewing some quotes for brewery equipment I came across Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery on a list of references from a manufacturer. After visiting their website and reading about their history, Grant and I knew that we had stumbled onto the perfect format for our new venture.

And apparently we are not the only ones. In fact, Yellow City Co-op Brewpub, the cooperative association that Grant and I (and several others eventually) started, is either the 5th or 6th cooperative brewery to pop into existence after Black Star, which bills itself as “the world’s first cooperatively owned brewery.” As we began to research the ins and outs of the co-op business model, we stumbled upon 5th Street Brewpub in Dayton, OH; Los Alamos Beer Co-op in New Mexico; Miami-Erie in Middletown, OH; High Five Co-op Brewery in Grand Rapids, MI; 4th Tap Co-op in Austin (yes, two in Austin!); and many others that seem to appear out of thin air all over the country. As of my last count (a very unofficial Google search on June 4th) there are at least 11 cooperative breweries or brewpubs in some stage of planning or opening in the country, a count which undoubtedly excludes many which are still in “concept” stage.

In this age of explosive growth in the craft beer industry it should probably come as no surprise that cooperative breweries are growing explosively, too. The growth of this segment of the craft beer industry strikes me as particularly unique and exciting. However, before I get into just why I’m so excited about the cooperative beer movement, let me explain what a cooperative is and is not.

According to the International Co-operative Alliance, a non-governmental association representing co-ops globally, cooperatives are essentially business run by and for their members. What this means in practical terms is that co-ops are owned by their members and operate primarily to benefit those members. In the case of a worker-owned co-op, the workers are also the owners and their primary benefit is having direct input into the operations of the business. Most cooperative breweries are not run in this way, but are a variation where the members are the owners, but the brewery (or brewpub) is run by a hired staff who are not necessarily members. The key difference here is that the membership is often much larger (several hundred or thousand instead of only a dozen or fewer), and the benefit to the membership is the brewery or brewpub itself. The members invest and become owners of the brewery in order to A) ensure it moves from idea to reality in their community, and B) realize some other tangible benefit, usually patronage dividends, which is cash back to the member for money spent at the brewery or brewpub.

The key here is that co-op breweries are inherently local ventures, since they are made up of a collection of like-minded community members pursuing a common good. If the co-op brewery provides patronage dividends based on your total annual expenditure in their tasting room, or a weekly happy hour for members, or some other benefit that requires your presence at the brewery or brewpub, then being a member two states over is of lesser benefit. Because of this local nature of cooperative breweries, their promotional efforts, their style and presentation, and their impacts are also local, and this is, to me, the most exciting thing about the cooperative beer movement; namely the growth of the Local Brewery.

I am like most craft beer lovers in that I love a variety of beers from a variety of breweries. Not only do I like to drink many different beers, I like to try new beers, I like to talk about beer and breweries, I like to read about the craft beer industry and new beers and breweries – basically I appreciate all aspects of the burgeoning craft beer scene. I have watched as this quiet market has grown in capacity and influence nationally (and internationally!), to a large extent owing to the growth of social media online, beer apps and publications, and the sheer whimsy, creativity and fun that craft brewers bring to consumers. And while I’m impressed and heartened by this growth; while my heart goes pitter patter when I hear about the market share Big Beer brands are losing to craft beer; and while I love-love-love the increasing variety I’m presented with on the beer aisle, I can’t help but cross my fingers that the impact of all of this growth will be a return to what this country once knew and loved: a pub in every town and breweries in every city. I can’t help but hope for the rise of the Local Brewery, and it appears that we have the pinnacle of this experience in the cooperative beer movement.

Some cities and regions are already experiencing the Local Brewery effect. Recently in Portland, OR sales of all other beers besides BMC (a belittling acronym for “Bud Miller Coors” meant to represent the Big Beer corporations, not craft brewers) were the majority. In a city with 54 breweries (74 in the metro area), just about any neighborhood has a brewery nearby. This is, in my mind, the greatest achievement of the rise of craft beer: that everyone in America could eventually have a brewery around the corner.

This abundance of breweries describes the rise of the cooperative beer movement in another way, too. If you were a budding brewer in a city like Portland, your hope of opening a craft brewery would become slimmer with each new entrant into the market. With so many “conventional” breweries, how does one differentiate oneself? Especially if all 54 breweries are making great beer? One way to be different is to have a different business organization, and a different motivation. Thus cooperative breweries fill a need for a new kind of business model, one with a motive and an appeal beyond the crass exigencies of dollars and cents. Cooperative breweries appeal to sentiments of local pride, personal ownership and involvement. They appeal to our need to carve out a niche of community in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world. They appeal to what I like to call the “Cheers Craving” which is that desire in all of us to have a place where everyone knows our name and they’re always glad we came.

Whatever the reasons, the cooperative beer movement is real, but still young. Black Star has proved that this business model can work, as are others across the country. I hope that in five years there will be so many successful co-op breweries that they will no longer seem novel, and then the next cool thing in craft beer can swoop in and take the spotlight.