[4] It was founded sometime between 1992 and 1993 by Marjorie McGinnis, Kevin Brannon, Steve Nordahl, and Steven Tluszcz and had its grand opening on 12 February 1997.
[7] Modern Brewery Age calls Frederick Brewing Company "the exemplar of heedless expansion of the micro segment".
[12] According to K. Timothy Swanson, there was a microbrew craze in the 1990s that ended with consumers being confused by the vast number of beers available.
[7] Frederick Brewing Company was founded in either 1992[14] or 1993[6] by Marjorie McGinnis, Kevin Brannon,[6][14] and Steve Nordahl.
They used the money to purchase land with enough space to build a 100,000 barrel brewery and expensive modern brewing equipment.
The company created the Blue Ridge brand of beer which did well at first, but eventually began "gathering dust on store shelves throughout the Mid-Atlantic".
These purchases made Frederick Brewing Company the largest craft brewery in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
[17] In order to cut costs in 1998 Frederick Brewing Company eliminated 6 management positions and reduced the salaries of their executives.
They decided to appeal the delisting notice,[10] but also planned to do a reverse stock split to increase the share price.
In 1999 a three part plan was formed to save the company, which involved purchasing a brand of malt liquor.
[13] As part of the agreement, McGinnis would get two free cases of beer a month for the rest of her life.
The merge proposal, if accepted, would result in SIBG owning 95% of Frederick Brewing Company's stocks.
Because David Snyder was chairman and CEO of both SIBG and Frederick Brewing Company, a special committee was created in order to evaluate the merger proposal.
That year there was also an attempt to include the company in Frederick County's annual tax sale, but this was stipulated the back-taxes not getting paid.
The purchase agreement stipulated that Frederick Brewing Company pay back the $610,392.63 it owed in back-taxes.
Mark Dottore, the man appointed by the Court of Common Pleas in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, said that the sale was an attempt to keep the business alive.
[9][22] Frederick Brewing Company was renamed Wild Goose Brewery and was made the "East Coast hub" for Flying Dog.
[17] That same year they partnered with C&L Brewing Co. to make a beer marketed towards high income African Americans.
[12] In 2004, Frederick Brewing Company made Wild Goose, Blue Ridge, Crooked River, Little Kings and Hudepohl beer and ale.
[4] In 1997 Frederick Brewing Company made beer flavoured with hemp seeds which they called Hempen Ale.
The Baltimore Sun quotes the Hemp Association as saying that Frederick Brewing Company was the only brewery doing this at the time.
[14] The National also says that Frederick Brewing Company was the first brewery in the United States to make beer with hemp seeds.
[14] Hemp seeds, imported from China,[24] were a key ingredient in Hempen Ale making up 10% to 30% of the beer by weight.