While we're honoring our nation's 39th president, beer lovers can raise a glass to him as well.
Many people might not know that Jimmy Carter is a huge reason why our beer scene in Massachusetts is bustling.
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Boston Beer Company today is valued at $3.4 billion. And its owner Jim Koch credits all of his success to Carter.
For those who don't know, Boston Beer Company, maybe you've heard of Sam Adams. The iconic Boston lager is what put the microbrewery on the map when Koch -- a sixth generation brewer -- started his empire in 1984.
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The San Diego Reader says Koch thanks Carter for helping him become a major organizer of the American craft beer movement. This was after Carter signed a bill in 1978 allowing individuals to brew for personal enjoyment.
"Essentially, it lifted regulations imposed by Prohibition laws over 50 years previous," the American Homebrewers Association wrote in its Carter remembrance Sunday night.
"Some states were quick to adopt federal legalization as their state’s policy on home beermaking, while others developed their own language," the message continued. "It wasn’t until 2013 — nearly 100 years after Prohibition made homebrewing illegal — that making beer at home became legal in all 50 states, with Mississippi and Alabama both establishing homebrew legality in that year. ...
"Cheers, and thank you to an American homebrew hero, President Jimmy Carter," the note concluded. "His legacy will live on in every batch of beer brewed."
Boston Beer Company also makes the popular Truly Hard Seltzer, which came well after years of success that started with a president who believed everyone deserved to do what they loved and make a living from it.
Esther Tetreault, the co-founder of another popular Boston brewery, Trillium, joined the chorus crediting Carter with starting their industry, sharing a statement with NBC10 Boston on Monday:
Without President Carter's foresight to legalize homebrewing in 1978, Trillium, and thousands of other independent craft breweries across the nation, may not have existed. His ability to identify and reduce government red tape that was impeding small business provided the spark for the craft beer industry; a collective of nearly 200k currently employed across the country. So much of the creativity craft beer consumers get to enjoy now comes from homebrewers turned professionals, like JC, who were able to learn and experiment at a small-scale before turning their passion into careers that would anchor communities.
