Funny thing with beer is in America prior to the grain rationing that Randy mentioned nearly every area had thier own micro breweries. The beers were heartier is strength and color. With the war on, and most of our troops over seas, women took over the bulk of the work force, and with grain being rationed, were serve light watered down stuff. Until the late 70's this stayed the trend, with imports being the only alternative. I think companies like Sierra Nevada paved the way to reawakening the beer culture that is now thriving. We have several micro breweries here in my town alone. The west coast has several hundred! My biggest regret with the latest micro brew rage is the over hopping of beers. At first glance, hop lovers were really pleased by the extra punch. But this like everything else here is now a competition to see just how much hops one can shove into a beer. To balance this out triple grain amounts are being added and beers with 12-13% alcohol are being bumped out. Some of the newer breweries can hide their brewing mistakes by overdoing it with hops. It will mask all sorts of bad quality beer. One fine exception is DogFish 90 minute Pale Ale. This beer goes down smooth, with a nice hop balance, but be forewarned, two of these will set your head into a fog zone!