Of Mines Beer

It is estimated that there were more than 4,000 breweries producing more than nine million barrels of beer across the U.S. in the early 1870s. In 1880, the Internal Revenue Service reported there were 2,830 operating breweries in the United States, while Germany reported nearly 11,000 around the same time. In comparison, the brewing town of Burton-on Trent, England had a population of 10,000 people and thirty breweries in 1880. Colorado had an estimated 200,000 people and twenty breweries in 1880, with five of them in Gilpin County. The total number of breweries in the US today is 2,000 with more than 140 in Colorado.This is the story of the breweries and brewers that called Gilpin County home and brewed beer for thousands of thirsty miners in the last half of the nineteenth century as well as references to other beer-related events in Central City, Black Hawk, Mountain City, Nevadaville, Russell Gulch, Rollinsville, Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Golden, Denver, Boulder, Aspen, Scotland, England, Germany, Colorado and the world.