Small Town Brewery

Small Town Brewery
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded 2010
Founder Tim Kovac
Headquarters Wauconda, Illinois, US
Products Beer
Website smalltownbrewery.com

Small Town Brewery is a brewing company based in Wauconda, Illinois, best known for producing the Not Your Father's brand of flavored beers.

History

Small Town Brewery was founded by Tim Kovac in Wauconda.[1] Kovac first started homebrewing in 1988. He founded Small Town Brewery in 2010, and his son Jake joined him a year later, with the idea to brew alcoholic root beer.[2] After three years of development, Not Your Father's Root Beer was released in Illinois in 2012.[1][3] It was initially sold in its 19.5% abv incarnation in kegs at local bars and liquor stores. The brewery then did two small bottling runs of a 10.7% abv root beer in 22-ounce bottles, and in November 2014, they released 12-ounce bottles of a 5.9% abv version.[4]

In March 2015, Small Town partnered with Pabst Brewing Company to distribute the Not Your Father's brand nationally.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Pabst owners, including Pabst CEO Eugene Kashper, acquired a stake in the brand and the company.[8][9] A new category in the alcoholic beverage industry was created due to the success of Not Your Father's Root Beer, referred to as "hard soda" or "flavored beer."[1]

The Small Town Brewery tap room in Wauconda was opened to the public on October 15, 2015.[10] It serves a rotating cycle of 16 Small Town beers, with beer flavors including French Toast, Bourbon Pecan and Strawberry Rhubarb.[11]

Products

Not Your Father's Root Beer is a traditionally-made beer brewed with botanicals, spices, and herbs such as wintergreen, sarsaparilla bark, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean and honey, to give it the taste of an old-fashioned root beer.[12][13][14] It is currently available nationally in two abv levels: 5.9% and 10.7%.[12] Not Your Father's Root Beer 5.9% abv 6-pack bottles was the best-selling craft beer in the United States in 2015.[15]

Not Your Father's Ginger Ale was released in November 2015.[16] Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale, at 4.1% abv, was made available in 2016.[17]

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tripp Mickle, "Not So Soft Drink: Brewers Add Booze to Root Beer," Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ Jacky Runice, "Big tastes are coming from small-town breweries," Daily Herald, September 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ Mary Ellen Shoup, "Not Your Father's Root Beer appeals to 'whole new market', founder says," Beverage Daily, April 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ Josh Noel, "Higher alcohol Not Your Father's Root Beer to go national," Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2016.
  5. ↑ John Kell, "Root beer is the next big thing in craft beer," Fortune, July 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ Stephanie Strom, "Pabst Raids Dad's Beer Fridge as It Looks to the Future," New York Times, April 1, 2016.
  7. ↑ Wesley Case, "Led by boozy root beer, 'hard soda' trend now in full swing," Baltimore Sun, February 10, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Kyle Stock, "Boozy Root Beer Is About to Be Huge," Bloomberg Businessweek, July 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ Melissa Locker, "This Alcoholic Root Beer Might Be Your New Favorite Summer Drink," Time, July 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ Russell Lissau, "Popular Wauconda brwery opens taproom," Daily Herald, October 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ Suzanne Brazil, "Wauconda's Small Town Brewery not your father's taproom," Daily Herald, December 8, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Gary Dzen, "A mysterious Midwestern brewer toys with dessert," Boston Globe, June 27, 2015.
  13. ↑ Florence Fabricant, "Batches of Root Beer Generate a Noticeable Buzz," New York Times, August 17, 2015.
  14. ↑ Geoff Williams, "Root Beer Flavored Beer Is Now A Thing And Only the Beginning Of What's Coming," Forbes, December 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ Chris Furnari, "IRI: Craft Sales Up 18 Percent in 2015," Brewbound, January 7, 2016.
  16. ↑ Greg Trotter, "Hard soda pops while soft drinks fizzle," Chicago Tribune, December 18, 2015.
  17. ↑ Sean Fahmy, "'Not Your Father's' Unveils Newest Hard Soda, Vanilla Cream Ale," Foodbeast, May 25, 2016.
  18. ↑ Mike Tighe, "Not Your Father's Root Beer keeps La Crosse brewery hoppin'," Washington Times, August 31, 2015.
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