All over the United States, craft breweries are continuing an American tradition which experienced an almost 50 year drought after the repeal of prohibition. Big Muddy Brewing in Murphysboro, Illinois is much like many of these new “microbreweries” all over the country, reinvigorating an industry and continuing a heritage that has skipped several generations.
Until 1940, Murphysboro was the home of a thriving brewery and until prohibition; it was one of the cornerstones of the town’s industry. In 1910, the Stecher Brewing Company produced more than 40,000 barrels of beer a year. However, passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, which ushered in the era of prohibition, began a slow decline to the brewery’s demise.
Big Muddy Brewing’s founder Chuck Stuhrenberg attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the 1980s. After graduation, he opened a franchise of Chicago’s Rosati’s Pizza in Carbondale and in 1990, began another venture, Spray Shield Industries.
It was while Stuhrenberg was in college at SIU that he began making his own beer.
Stuhrenberg and his college buddies would homebrew, and as the years went on, he began to take his hobby more seriously.
Stuhrenberg always had professional brewing in the back of his mind, but it stayed a hobby until 2009. In July, 2009, Big Muddy Brewing finally began production, the first brewery in Murphysboro in over 50 years.