Jim Koch: Courtesy Boston Beer Company)

Walk down any beer aisle today and you’ll find an almost overwhelming number of choices, from a full spectrum of IPAs to barrel-aged stouts, fruited sours, artisan pilsners and lagers.

But it wasn’t always that way, not even close.

Back in the early 1980s, finding an American artisan beer was near to impossible. A handful of giant breweries dominated the market, and most drinkers never imagined beer could offer the kind of depth, aroma, and complexity that wine lovers had been enjoying for years.

Then along came a guy named Jim Koch with an old family recipe, a station wagon full of beer, and the conviction that Americans were ready for something better.

Looking back, it’s hard to overstate his impact on the craft beer industry..

Samuel Adams didn’t invent craft beer. Breweries like Anchor Brewing Company had already planted the seeds of the movement, and pioneering brewers on the West Coast were beginning to challenge the status quo. But Samuel Adams with its immense distribution capability became the brewery that introduced craft beer to millions of Americans. .

For Koch, this journey started with his family.

A sixth-generation brewer, he grew up surrounded by stories about malt, hops, and fermentation. His father worked as a brewmaster in Cincinnati, and one of Koch’s prized possessions was a family lager recipe dating back to the 1870s. While many people inherit old photographs or furniture, Koch inherited a beer recipe that had quietly survived generations.

Still, he didn’t immediately follow the family business.

After graduating from Harvard University and earning an MBA, Koch built a successful career as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. By most standards, he had a pretty secure future.

But he couldn’t shake his love of brewing and the feeling that American beer deserved better.

Koch dusted off that old family recipe, fine-tuned it in his Boston, Massachusetts kitchen, and started sharing it with friends. And their reaction convinced him he might be onto something. And in 1984, he walked away from corporate life and founded the Boston Beer Company.

It was a revolutionary move on Koch’s part and he wanted a brewery name that reflected America’s own revolutionary spirit.

He landed on Samuel Adams, the Boston patriot who helped ignite the American Revolution. In retrospect his new brewery’s name couldn’t have been more appropriate.  Just as Samuel Adams is still remembered as the “Father of the American Revolution” and Koch will be remembered as one of the leaders in the American crat beer revolution.

Getting people to buy the beer, however, proved much harder than naming his brewery.

Without a national sales force or flashy advertising budget, Koch became the salesman. He loaded cases of beer into the trunk of his car and spent his days walking into Boston bars, introducing himself to owners, pouring samples, and asking for a chance. Some bartenders politely declined. Others agreed to put a keg on tap or stock a few bottles. Once customers tasted the beer, many came back asking for another.

Those early road trips have become part of craft beer folklore, not because they were glamorous, but because they reflected the do-it-yourself attitude that still defines independent brewing today. Koch wasn’t just selling beer. He was adamant that American beer could once again be something worth talking about.

And his gamble paid off.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager quickly earned praise for its rich malt backbone and  balanced noble hops profile, and full-bodied character. Awards soon followed, as did the brewery credibility at home and abroad.

As the years passed, Samuel Adams became much more than a single flagship lager.

The brewery also championed craft beer seasonals like its famed Oktoberfest lager, as well as countless small-batch releases, and an ongoing commitment barrel aging.

Perhaps no beer better represents that adventurous spirit than Utopias. Released only every few years after extended aging in a variety of specialty barrels, it remains one of America’s most ambitious and talked-about beers, proving that brewing can be every bit as creative as winemaking or distilling.

By the time the craft beer boom exploded in the 2000s and 2010s, Samuel Adams had become an almost national brand and thousands of those new brewers had grown up drinking Boston Lager.

Ironically, Samuel Adams eventually became so successful that some younger beer drinkers forgot just how revolutionary it once was. Meanwhile, Boston Beer Company, home to the Samuel Adams brand continued evolving with successful brands like Twisted Tea and Truly Hard Seltzer, allowing the company to keep investing in brewing innovation while adapting to changing consumer tastes.

Today, it’s easy to take craft breweries for granted; most major American cities have many. But that world didn’t happen overnight.

It was built by passionate individuals like Jim Koch, who was willing to challenge brewing conventions in a big way, and in doing so, heralded in the craft beer industry as we know it today.