David Geary, co-founder of D.L. Geary Brewing in Portland, died of natural causes on Wednesday night. He was 78.
David and his wife, Karen, founded D.L. Geary Brewing in 1983, which was the first of its kind on the East Coast. At the time of D.L. Geary Brewing’s incorporation, there were only 13 microbreweries nationwide, almost exclusively on the West Coast, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Geary’s children announced his passing Thursday on Facebook, reported the Portland newspaper.
“Our funny, charming, gregarious and cantankerous father passed away last night,” Matthew Geary and Kelly Lucas wrote. “He made a mark on the world and influenced an entire industry.”
Inspired by a 1984 trip to the United Kingdom, Geary used traditional English brewing methods, including open-air tanks for fermentation. According to the Down East magazine, the open fermentation style “set Geary’s apart from today’s American breweries.”
On Dec. 10, 1986, the first pints of Geary’s Pale Ale, the company’s flagship product, were sold.
D.L. Geary Brewing’s production peaked in 2006, according to Down East magazine, with 20,000 barrels of beer being produced annually.
The company was sold in 2017, four years after the death of David’s wife, Karen.