KALAMAZOO, MI

Kalamazoo's brewing history 9 Gallery: Kalamazoo's brewing history

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Last February,

published an extensive story on the

.

His story, covering 1837 to 1915, contains photos, maps, old Kalamazoo Gazette stories, advertisements, photos and a slew of other interesting tidbits about the village and later the city's love affair with local brew.

The extensively researched piece talks about the Kalamazoo Brewing Co., Old Joe's Brewery, the Kalamazoo Steam Brewery and other beer-makers that populated the area before the county went dry in 1915.

"I found it truly fascinating that Kalamazoo, as a post-Civil War village of roughly seven thousand, could support no less than six commercial breweries, a distillery or two, and a thriving crop of saloons (although as a nation, annual per capita alcohol consumption then averaged nearly three times what it does today)," Howard said in an email.

"Regardless, much of what could be learned about Kalamazoo’s early breweries tends to focus on the high quality of the local product, and Kalamazoo’s passion for promoting local industry. In that sense, perhaps little has changed."

You can read

.

In the early 1900s, Kalamazoo breweries were facing stiff competition from larger beer makers in Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Coupled with opposition for alcoholic beverages, the Kalamazoo companies tried to sell the benefits of their product in advertising and newspaper articles. Howard's article says, citing clips from the Kalamazoo Gazette:

But, in April 1915, voters in Kalamazoo County outlawed the production and sales of alcohol. According to Howard's article, "On 1 May 1915, sixty five business establishments were closed county wide, including thirty four saloons in Kalamazoo, and the City Union Brewery."

Almost 100 years later, Kalamazoo is seeing a resurgence of local beer-makers. MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette have been taking a closer look at Kalamazoo's craft beer culture in a series of stories this week.



In addition to being home to the state's largest brewery, Bell's Brewery Inc., which served its first beer in September 1985, the city will be home of Arcadia Brewing Co.'s new production facility and taproom by next summer. Boatyard Brewing Co., located a few blocks north of Bell's Eccentric Cafe, is poised to open this fall.

Kalamazoo also features several

. The city's affinity for craft beer will again be on display for the third annual

, which will run from Jan. 12-18, 2013.

As for more Kalamazoo related beer history, in June of 2008, I wrote a story about the

, called the Patrick Henry Chapter of the National Association of Breweriana Advertising and Brewery Collectibles Club of America (

).

John Liberty can be reached at 269-370-7372 or jlibert1@mlive.com. Follow me on Twitter @JohnTLiberty