Theakston Brewery company acquired and closed down the Lightfoot Brewery, also in Masham. Theakston's expanded into Cumbria in 1974 buying the Carlisle State Management Brewery. The brewery had been owned and operated by the government since 1916. However, the site was a financial drain on Theakston's and led to the company being taken over in 1984 by Blackburn based brewer, Matthew Brown plc. Matthew Brown was itself taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in 1987. Paul Theakston (Managing Director since 1968) left Theakston's in 1988, and in 1992 established the Black Sheep Brewery in the old Lightfoot Brewery premises - located adjacent
Small Town Brewery in 2016. Small Town Brewery Small Town Brewery is a brewing company based in Wauconda, Illinois, best known for producing the Not Your Father's brand of flavored beers. Small Town Brewery was founded by Tim Kovac in Wauconda in 2010. Kovac first started homebrewing in 1988. After three years of development, Not Your Father's Root Beer was released in Illinois in 2012. It was initially sold in its 19.5% abv incarnation in kegs at local bars and liquor stores. The brewery then did two small bottling runs of a 10.7% abv root beer in 22-ounce bottles, and in November 2014,