D. L. Geary Brewing Company

D. L. Geary Brewing Company is a brewery in Portland, Maine, USA, incorporated in October 1983 by David and Karen Geary.

At that time, there were only 13 so-called microbreweries in the United States, almost all of them in California and the Pacific Northwest. Geary's, as it is more commonly known, was one of the first new microbreweries during America’s late 20th-century brewing renaissance.

In the winter of 1984, David traveled to England and Scotland for training and research of brewing. With the help of Peter Maxwell Stuart, a Scottish nobleman and brewer who arranged introductions and itineraries, he worked in half-dozen small commercial breweries from the highlands of Scotland to the south coast of England. There were fewer resources for craft brewing at the time, so upon returning to the States, David and Karen began the long and difficult process of creating a business plan finding appropriate real estate, specifying equipment and raw materials, and raising the capital necessary to begin brewing. Once enough money was collect and two years had passed, the size and design of the brewery began to take shape.

Through hiring Alan Pugsley (would go on to be a co-founder of Shipyard Brewing Company), an English biochemist. At the time Pugsley was one of the top brewing consultants in North America, under the direction of David and Karen the recipe for Geary’s Pale Ale was created using classic elements from some of Britain’s best breweries. Brewing began in the fall of 1986 and once David sampled and approved of the Geary's Pale Ale, the brewery was ready. On December 10, 1986, the first pints of Geary's Pale Ale were sold; signaling the arrival of New England's first microbrewery. Their beer offerings eventually expanded to some 10 beers, with some being limited time seasonals. In 1987 D. L. Geary Brewing Company's first big distribution break occurred when supermarket chains, Hannaford and Shaw's started carrying their beers. It was not until 1990, that they distributed outside of the United States Northeast.

In 2006 Geary’s London Porter won a New York Times blind taste test when put against 24 other Porters. During the later 2000's the beer market and the number of breweries has grown in Maine. Geary's has somewhat been forgotten as newer and hipper breweries have arrived leading to lower production. According to numbers from, Maine's Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, show Geary's beer production dropping by 34.5 percent from 2011 to 2015. While on a wide look at craft beer production that increased from 2011 to 2015. The increased competition along with decreased production and a stale business image have led to the brewery to be sold to a new owner with the transaction to be complete at the end of 2017.

...
Wikipedia