Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Interviews with news makers and discussion of topics important to Southwest Michigan. Subscribe to the podcast through Apple itunes and Google. Segments of interview are heard in WestSouthwest Brief during Morning Edition and All Things Considered

WSW: Kalamazoo's Centuries-Long History of Beer

Courtesy, Keith Howard & Western Michigan University Archives and Regional History Collections

Local breweries like Bell’s Brewery and Arcadia Brewing have put Kalamazoo on the national craft beer radar. But the city’s been producing beer since the mid-1800s. Keith Howard, the web coordinator with the Kalamazoo Public Library,is giving a talk at the Washington Square Branch Library on September 22nd on the history of those breweries, and how we ended up where we are today.

Howard says when he began researching Kalamazoo's brewing history, he expected to find one or two breweries in the city in the mid-1800's. Instead, he found that more than a dozen operated in the city at one time, each churning up brews for individual neighborhoods. Much of the brewing was a cultural touchstone, he says, related to the individual traditions of immigrants who arrived in Kalamazoo by train as it expanded.

"We were a tiny community, but these were tightly knit neighborhoods," he says. "And they had their own cultures, their own people. And brewing was a big part of that."

Howard says that when the "temperance" movement moved into the city to prohibit hard liquor, the breweries had a unique strategy to fight back: pegging beer as a kind of "superfood."

"Instead of whiskey or rum or the really hard drink, here's beer," Howard explains. "It was actually promoted as 'liquid bread'. This stuff is healthy for you! They gave it to their kids! Be strong, have this healthy stuff."

When the big brewers -- Pabst, Miller, etc. -- began making their way into Kalamazoo's bars, the local breweries needed a strategy to hold them off. They stuck with the "healthy food" model, saying these big brewers could have dangerous chemicals inside.

"There could be all sorts of things in there! On the other side, our hometown brew is made by people you know, and you know what's in it!" Howard says. "In fact, the brewery on Lake Street, which ended up being the biggest and latest in this chain of things, even offered to let you come in at anytime...they just really wanted to open their doors and emphasize you could trust local stuff, but who knows that other stuff." 

However, Howard says, by the time prohibition hit, most of Kalamazoo's breweries had lost the battle with the larger brewers. Prohibition wiped the rest out. And due to restrictive laws even after Prohibition was lifted, the beer scene never really began climbing back until roughly 30 years ago. And now, he says, they're integral to the current craft boom.

keithhowardinterview_--_web_version.mp3
Interview with Keith Howard - web version

Here are a few links to Howard's research:

Related Content