NOT YOUR FATHER'S, SMALL TOWN BREWERY

Founded in 2010, Small Town Brewery makes classic American-styled botanical ales inspired by a long-forgotten artisanal brewing method called "gruit". This ancient way of brewing uses roots, spices, flowers and berries instead of hops to bitter and flavour the beer. Despite its age, the brewery rose to become one of the best-selling and most sought after craft beers in the US today, with Not Your Father’s Root Beer at its forefront.

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With the booming craft beer industry, new breweries are popping up all over the country. One of the most unique entries into this crowded market is Small Town Brewery, the makers of Not Your Father's Root Beer.

Small Town Brewery was founded in 2010 by Tim Kovac, a homebrewer from Wauconda, Illinois. Kovac had been experimenting with homebrewing since 1988; he created a root beer that had a higher alcohol content than traditional soft drinks, and he soon realised that he had stumbled upon something special.

After years of perfecting his recipe, Kovac began selling his root beer at local farmers' markets and festivals. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and demand quickly outpaced his ability to brew the beer at home. That was when Konvac got the idea of opening his own brewery.

After Konvac’s mother learned of his intentions to start a brewery, she revealed their family’s brewing history and as it turns out, brewing was in his blood. Konvac’s great-great-grandfather from the 1600s was the captain of a ship in England; he was also a gambler. During a high-stakes card game, the gambling captain won a brewery which led him to start brewing his own beers.

Not Your Father’s Root Beer

In 2012, Kovac decided to take the leap and turn his homebrewing hobby into a full-time business. He leased a space in his hometown of Wauconda and began brewing Not Your Father's Root Beer on a larger scale.

This unique brew was created using an old-world technique known as “gruit”, where, instead of using hops, it was brewed with herbs and spices like caraway, anise, and mugwort. These herbs and spices act as bittering agents that balance out the natural sweetness from the sarsaparilla, wintergreen, and vanilla in the beer.

The root beer quickly gained a cult following, with fans raving about its smooth, creamy taste and its nostalgic flavour that will transport you back to the roaring '90s. Not Your Father's Root Beer also had a higher alcohol content than traditional root beer, which added to its appeal for some drinkers.

Small Town Brewery’s other brews

Not Your Father's Root Beer was soon joined by other flavours, including ginger ale, vanilla cream ale, and cherry cream ale. The company also began experimenting with other alcoholic beverages, including hard sodas and spiked lemonades.

In 2018, Small Town Brewery rebranded itself as "Small Town Craft Spirits," which reflected its expansion into other alcoholic beverages beyond beer. However, Not Your Father's Root Beer remains the company's flagship product and a beloved favourite of beer drinkers and non-beer drinkers alike.

Small Town Roots,
Big-Time Success

What started as a homebrewing experiment has turned into a national sensation, with Not Your Father's Root Beer becoming one of the most recognizable brands in the industry. Small Town Brewery's commitment to quality and its small-town roots have made it a beloved fixture in the world of craft beer.