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Stroh’s. Gobble. Tivoli. Zynda. E & B. Once the powerhouses of Detroit beer, many of them have faded from memory now. The brewing industry weathered wars, major legal challenges, and changing customer tastes before beer came back with a bang in Detroit. Since the celebrated its this year, why not take a look back at Detroit’s own beer history?

Detroit’s first beer makers were the French and British brewers of the 18th century, who made small batches of ales, porters, and stouts for their neighbors. A later influx of immigrants fleeing the European political unrest of 1848 brought their time-tested recipes for bottom-fermented beers like pilsners and lagers. Among these midcentury immigrants was a young man named Bernhard Stroh.

By the turn of the 20th century, the was producing more beer than any other brewery in the city, averaging 300,000 barrels a year. Stroh’s was joined by other German and Polish breweries, many clustered around the Eastern Market area.

But World War I was unkind to brewers of German descent, and national Prohibition was the final nail in the coffin for many smaller breweries. After World War II, a long period of consolidation nationwide meant that most of the small operations were gobbled up by larger conglomerates. In 1985, Stroh’s shut down its Detroit operations.

Before long, though, several Detroiters were working quietly to bring a new kind of brewing to the city — or, rather, an older model, focusing on smaller batches and quality ingredients. Ben Edwards, Tom Burns, Larry Bell, and John Linardos were some of the first Michiganders to push the state liquor control board to allow microbreweries to serve their product on-site. Burns and Linardos formed Detroit & Mackinac Brewing Co. — later — to brew beer for the in Detroit’s Cass Corridor in 1992, while gained fame on the west side of the state.

The craft beer industry gathered momentum rapidly from there. opened in 2013, three years after its founders won the gold medal at the World Beer Cup for their American IPA Norm’s Raggedy-Ass IPA. Since then, managing partner Scott LePage has seen a pattern of growth and creativity.

“Craft beer has gone through four or five surges” in the past 30 years or so, he says. “When we first opened, we weren’t busy. I don’t think people understood what it was, and then it’s gravitated into this juggernaut where it’s like a grown-up Starbucks.”

Scott Graham, executive director of the Michigan Brewers Guild, estimates that today there are more than 400 craft breweries in Michigan, with more than 50 operating in metro Detroit. Most of these, he says, “are really small mom-and-pop operations that basically operate out of their tasting room.”

Brewers and craft beer aficionados will gather once again on Oct. 19 to sample the myriad styles and flavors. Where once Big Beer giants like E & B cranked out thousands of barrels at a time, thanks to the Michigan Brewers Guild and the many member brewers participating, revelers can now get a taste of both brewing history and future, a few ounces at a time.

This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of ������ Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of ������ Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our will be available on Oct. 7.