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Retirements Bring Turning Points for Veteran Brewers

Stoudts in Pennsylvania to close, Sprecher in Wisconsin gets new ownership, while Schlafly in Missouri buys a long-running brewpub.

Brewing Industry Guide Staff Feb 4, 2020 - 4 min read

Retirements Bring Turning Points for Veteran Brewers Primary Image

A question that faces an older generation of American microbrewing pioneers: When to retire... and what to do with this brewery when I do?

A couple of announcements from legacy breweries in the past few days illustrate different answers.

Carol Stoudt, who claimed the honor of being the first American woman brewmaster since Prohibition, founded Stoudts Brewing in 1987 in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. She announced her retirement on Monday, saying that the brewery would close its doors. “I did my part,” she says in the announcement. “Now it is up to the new generation to continue the tradition of innovation that defines craft beer.”

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