The Birth of Imperial Stout Day – May 17th
May 17th was always a special day for craft beer pioneer Bert Grant. Born on May 17, 1928, he would grow up to become one of the most influential figures in American brewing history. But it wasn’t just his birthdate that would come to mean something to beer lovers—it was what he gave to them decades later.
In the early 1980s, when most Americans thought beer came in one color and one flavor, Bert Grant dared to do something different. From his Yakima, Washington brewpub—the first in the country since Prohibition—he brewed a beer that was bold, black, and unapologetically rich: the first American-made Imperial Stout.
In 1984, at the Great American Beer Festival, Bert tapped his Imperial Stout creation to curious crowds. It was dark as midnight and thick with roasted malt and warming alcohol—more akin to sipping whiskey than the fizzy lagers people knew. Some were stunned. Others converted on the spot. Craft beer had found a new icon.
To honor Bert Grant’s legacy, and to celebrate the style he fearlessly introduced to American palates, we now raise a glass every May 17th—the day of his birth—as Imperial Stout Day.
A day for rich pours, long finishes, and bold dreams.
Cheers, Bert. You changed everything.
Bert Grant (1928–2001): Pioneer of American Craft Brewing
Herbert Lewis “Bert” Grant was a trailblazer in American craft beer, widely recognized for revolutionizing the industry with bold, hop-forward styles and for opening the first modern brewpub in the United States.
Born on May 17, 1928, in Dundee, Scotland, Grant immigrated to Canada at a young age and began working in the brewing industry as a teenager. His career took him through major brewing companies in Canada and the U.S., including Carling and Stroh’s. In 1967, he moved to Yakima, Washington, where he worked for hop supplier S.S. Steiner and helped develop the country’s first hop pelletizing machine—advancing hop utilization across the industry.
In 1982, at age 54, Grant founded Yakima Brewing & Malting Co., also known as Grant’s Brewery Pub, in an old opera house in Yakima. It was the first brewpub in the U.S. since Prohibition. From that humble but historic location, he brewed the first American-brewed India Pale Ale (IPA)—a bold, hop-forward beer that helped ignite a revolution in American craft brewing.
In addition to pioneering the IPA, Grant also brewed the first Russian Imperial Stout in the United States, a robust and intense style that would become a staple among American craft brewers. His imperial stout made its public debut at the 1984 Great American Beer Festival, where it introduced U.S. beer drinkers to the deep flavors and high alcohol content characteristic of the style.
Known for his larger-than-life personality, Grant was a passionate promoter of hops—famously carrying hop oil to dose bland lagers—and a fierce advocate for flavor in beer. At his pub, he was often seen wearing a Scottish kilt, and he once enforced a no-smoking rule by brandishing a claymore sword.
Grant sold his brewery in 1995 but remained an influential figure in the craft beer world until his death in 2001. His legacy lives on in every hop-forward beer served in America, and he is remembered as one of the true fathers of the American craft brewing movement.
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