I am trying to remember my source..but I remember reading that it was a political decision in our country to make private/small breweries illegal when the Scot/Irish started emigrating to our country. Apparently, if the source was correct, a good number of them had brewing experience and could have started small breweries here. The reason appeared to to protect the existing breweries, one politician made the accusation that this was the best way to assure poverty among the new residents in the southeast US. It was a quite interesting read, and I wish I could remember the source as it has been some time.

My mother's family is of good Scot/Irish descent from Tennessee, and we had our fair share of moonshiners before and during Prohibition.