MAINE, USA — If you’ve ever enjoyed a craft beer, you have former President Jimmy Carter to thank. Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, played a pivotal role in paving the way for the craft beer industry that's thriving in Maine and across the country.
In 1978, Carter signed HR 1337 into law, allowing homebrewing and small-scale craft brewing to operate legally. This legislation helped spark an industry that has grown exponentially, especially in states like Maine.
Nearly a decade after Carter’s landmark bill, Maine first licensed craft brewery opened.
In 1986, D.L. Geary Brewing Company launched in Portland, becoming the first licensed brewery east of the Mississippi River since the end of Prohibition, according to Maine Brewers' Guild.
Today, Maine boasts more than 100 licensed breweries, including Allagash Brewing Company and Orono Brewing Company. Brewer Noah Bissell, co-founder of Bissell Brothers Brewing who started brewing as a hobby in college, credits the legislation for enabling his career.
"Without that bill being passed and the barrier to entry being so much lower, I don’t know what I’d be doing,” Bissell said. “But I can almost guarantee I would not be in the brewing industry.”
While Carter’s legislation laid the groundwork, the path to nationwide acceptance of homebrewing took much longer.
The American Homebrewers Association notes that Mississippi and Alabama were the last two states to legalize homebrewing, finally doing so in 2013.