Founded by Larry Bell as a home brewing supply shop in 1983, Bell’s Brewery, Inc. sold its first commercial beer in September 1985. Beer was initially brewed in a 15-gallon soup kettle and the company has grown remarkably from its production of 135 barrels (1 barrel = 31 gallons) in 1986 to over 310,000 barrels in 2014.

In 1993, Bell’s became the first Michigan brewery to open an onsite pub. In 2003, Bell’s opened a new production brewery in nearby Comstock, Michigan about seven miles east of Kalamazoo. Despite repeated expansion, Bell hasn’t forgotten its roots and continues to brew at its original Kalamazoo location, using the same equipment that served them so well for many years.