D. L. Geary Brewing Company

D. L. Geary Brewing Company is a brewery in Portland, Maine, USA, incorporated in October 1983 by David and Karen Geary.

At that time, there were only 13 so-called microbreweries in the United States, almost all of them in California and the Pacific Northwest. Geary's, as it is more commonly known, was one of the first new microbreweries during America’s late 20th century brewing renaissance.

In the winter of 1984, David Geary began a period of training and research in Scotland and England. With the help of Peter Maxwell Stuart, a Scottish nobleman and brewer who arranged introductions and itineraries, he worked in a half-dozen small commercial breweries from the highlands of Scotland to the south coast of England. During that time, the size and design of the brewery began to take shape; and most importantly, the recipe for Geary’s Pale Ale was created using classic elements from some of Britain’s best breweries.

There were far less resources for craft brewing at that time, and so the partners began the long and difficult process of creating a business plan, finding appropriate real estate, specifying equipment and raw materials, designing packaging and raising the capital necessary to begin brewing. After nearly two years of planning and effort, construction began. Equipment was ordered, contractors were hired, and the brewery was ready for its first brewing the fall of 1986. On December 10, 1986, the first pints of Geary’s Pale Ale were sold; New England’s first microbrewery had arrived. In 2006 Geary’s London Porter won a New York Times blind taste test.