The Class of ’88

Established 1988When Deschutes Brewery announced their “Class of ’88” initiative, where they are teaming up with other breweries founded in 1988 (the same year as Deschutes) to brew up a series of 25th-anniversary collaboration beers, it made me think: how many American craft breweries founded in 1988 are still operating today? We already know of the five (thanks to Deschutes), and I thought it would be interesting to seek out the others, and turn that into a series of short profiles of each.

So I cast around online a bit, and this is what I came up with, for breweries founded in 1988 still active today:

  • Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR)
  • Goose Island Brewing (Chicago, IL)
  • North Coast Brewing (Fort Bragg, CA)
  • Rogue Ales (Newport, OR)
  • Great Lakes Brewing (Cleveland, OH)
  • Grand Teton Brewing (Victor, ID)
  • Wynkoop Brewing (Denver, CO)
  • Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY)
  • Vermont Pub & Brewery (Burlington, VT)
  • Santa Fe Brewing (Santa Fe, NM)
  • Gritty McDuff’s Brewing (Portland, ME)
  • Gordon Biersch (Palo Alto, CA)
  • SLO Brewing (San Luis Obispo, CA)
  • Pacific Coast Brewing (Oakland, CA)
  • Seabright Brewery (Santa Cruz, CA)
  • Big Time Brewery (Seattle, WA)
  • Carver Brewing (Durango, CO)

That’s what I was able to come up with—17 breweries still brewing beer today (and in the case of ones like Gordon Biersch and Gritty’s, they have a multitude of locations). Did I miss any? Make sure to let me know.

So in the coming weeks, looks for profiles of each of these breweries of the Class of ’88, celebrating 25 successful years in the brewing industry.

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