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Beers in stock: Financing legal beer’s return at the nadir of the Great Depression

Author

Listed:
  • Jason E. Taylor
  • Robert E. Wright
  • Abdul-Samed Adamu Bukari

Abstract

This is the first in-depth study of how breweries employed the public equity market to help facilitate legal beer’s return after the government modified federal Prohibition in April 1933. While only 133 breweries were licensed initially, more than 600 were selling beer just nine months later. With the economy and financial markets greatly weakened by the Depression, many long idle, displaced, or under-utilized breweries financed the refurbishments needed to return by turning to public equity markets. At least 127 breweries – one fifth of all breweries that operated in 1933 – issued over $66 million in new stock, $71 million if brewery-allied industries are included. Thus, more than a quarter of the $250 million reportedly expended on brewery updates stemmed from stock sales. As a result, many US brewing companies went from being closely held by a few, large stockholders to being more widely held by numerous small, individual investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason E. Taylor & Robert E. Wright & Abdul-Samed Adamu Bukari, 2026. "Beers in stock: Financing legal beer’s return at the nadir of the Great Depression," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(1), pages 206-231, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:68:y:2026:i:1:p:206-231
    DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2025.2478879
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