Home of the Brave: A Casita Beer Series

At Casita, we’re not just brewers—we’re history buffs, storytellers, and proud Americans. We believe the past matters. It shapes who we are, what we value, and where we’re going. And as the 250th anniversary of our nation approaches, we felt a pull to honor that story in the best way we know how: with beer, conversation, and community.

So we got to work. We made a list—not of the most famous names, necessarily, but of the people we believe helped define the American spirit. Leaders, dreamers, builders, fighters. Twelve legends. Some are household names, others deserve to be. All of them made America what it is.

It wasn’t easy. Narrowing it down meant a lot of reading, debating, laughing, and second-guessing. Sure the first two or three are easy, but the last 4 or so? Tough. You try it! But just like crafting a great beer, we took our time and followed our gut.

What came out of it is something we're proud of: a year-long series of beers—each one brewed with care in honor of a figure who helped shape our country, released month by month in no particular order, as we count down to July 4th, 2026.

We hope you enjoy the beers. We hope you learn something new. And most of all, we hope this series gives you a chance to reflect—on where we’ve been, who we are, and how lucky we are to share this place we call home.

Thanks for being a part of it.
—The Casita Family

“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
—Abraham Lincoln, House Divided Speech, June 16, 1858

Release #1 — Abraham Lincoln
Four Score and Seven Beers Ago - Vienna Lager

Abraham Lincoln came from hard country—born in a Kentucky cabin with more timber than opportunity, raised on work, books, and loss. He had less than a year of formal schooling, but somewhere in that lanky frame was a mind hungry for law, language, and above all, truth. He spoke plainly, thought deeply, and read the Bible and Shakespeare until their cadences found their way into his own.

When the nation began to tear itself apart, it was Lincoln—not polished, not pedigreed—who shouldered the burden. He didn’t begin the war as a crusader to end slavery, but war has a way of refining men. What began as a fight to preserve the Union became a moral reckoning, and Lincoln—through grief, doubt, and steady resolve—became the man history needed.

He wrote the Emancipation Proclamation not with fanfare, but with firm conviction. He passed the 13th Amendment with political grit and quiet courage. He filled his cabinet with rivals, not friends, believing unity was forged in fire, not comfort. And when the killing stopped, he asked for neither vengeance nor celebration—only healing.

We brewed Four Score and Seven Beers Ago, a smooth Vienna Lager, in tribute to this rare kind of leader: one who grew into greatness and never stopped walking forward.
This is an easy drinker—clean, balanced, and quietly confident. A soft malt backbone, a touch of bitterness, and just enough body to linger. Like Lincoln, it’s honest, unpretentious, and made to stand the test of time.

It’s the first in a year-long tribute to the figures who built, shaped, and held together this place we call home.

-August 2025

“It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill.”
—Wilbur Wright

Release #2 — The Wright Brothers
12 Seconds — Pre-Prohibition Lager

Orville and Wilbur Wright were raised in a hardworking home where curiosity wasn’t a hobby—it was a way of life. Their mother, Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, was the quietly brilliant engineer in the family, the kind of maker who built toys, repaired tools, and taught her sons to trust their hands and their minds. Their father, Bishop Milton Wright, gave them the library and freedom to match, turning curiosity into a family tradition.

They studied wind the way fishermen study tides. They built kites, gliders, and even a wind tunnel, logging failures like friends. When they hauled their Flyer from Ohio to the dunes of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, they weren’t chasing spectacle; they were testing a truth. On December 17, 1903, the first hop lasted 12 seconds and 120 feet. By day’s end, the fourth flight stretched to 852 feet in 59 seconds—and the world had changed.

From that sand to the Sea of Tranquility on the moon took only 66 years. The same country that watched a canvas-and-spruce machine skim the Carolina wind in 1903 watched Apollo 11 land on the Moon in 1969. That arc—vision to reality, shop bench to the stars—is why the Wrights belong in this series.

We brewed 12 Seconds, a slightly hazy Pre-Prohibition Lager made from all Eastern North Carolina grains (barley and corn), to toast that homegrown genius. It carries a touch more body than modern lagers, a gentle grain sweetness, and a clean, dry finish. Familiar and fresh at once—built for repeatable sips and long conversations.

This is the second release in our year-long Home of the Brave series: a tribute to Americans who turned grit into lift. Raise a glass to the brothers whose work helped us leave the Earth.

—September 2025

“God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.”
—Harriet Tubman
 

Release #3 — Harriet Tubman
The Faithful Conductor — Apple Brandy & Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland around 1822 and lived a life that defied the boundaries of her time. After escaping to freedom, she could have rested in safety—but instead, she turned back into danger time and again, guiding men, women, and children through the dark woods and river crossings of the Underground Railroad. Her faith in God was her compass; her courage, the light that never failed her.

Over the years, Tubman became one of the most formidable conductors in American history—practical, fearless, and divinely certain of her purpose. But she didn’t stop there. Her rescue missions inspired and emboldened the growing abolitionist movement, helping to shift public conscience and sharpen the moral urgency of ending slavery. During the Civil War, she scouted for the Union Army and nursed the wounded. In the decades that followed, she lent her voice to another just cause—joining the fight for women’s suffrage.

Her story isn’t one of comfort or applause—it’s one of relentless movement toward the good, a faith lived out in action when words were not enough.

We brewed The Faithful Conductor, an Apple Brandy & Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, to honor her strength and resolve. Aged in Laird’s apple brandy and Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels, it layers dark cocoa, toasted oak, and a touch of apple tartness over gentle bourbon warmth. Smooth and contemplative, full-bodied without heaviness, it reflects the same balance of grace and grit that defined Tubman herself.

This is the third release in our year-long Home of the Brave series: a toast to American heroes whose courage and conviction changed the course of history. Raise a glass to Harriet Tubman—the faithful conductor who never lost a passenger, and whose journey still lights the way.

— October 2025