Bert Grant Opens America's First Post-Prohibition Brewpub

On July 1, 1982, Bert Grant opened Yakima Brewing and Malting Company in Yakima, Washington. The brewpub operated in Yakima's historic Opera House and is widely described as the first brewpub in the United States since Prohibition. Grant's brewpub was unusual in the American beer market of the early 1980s. It combined small-scale brewing with direct service to customers at a time when the modern American craft brewing movement was still taking shape. The operation began as a pub brewery before later expanding into packaged beer under the Grant's label. The opening of Yakima Brewing and Malting Company helped establish the brewpub model as an important part of American craft beer culture. Grant's later beers, including Grant's India Pale Ale, also made the brewery an important early contributor to the development of modern American IPA.