Micro breweries are just the latest craze in beer, which was manufactured in Elgin as early as 1849. That’s when Englishman Charles Tazewell opened the Eagle Brewery on the west side of town.

Just in time for Halloween and Elgin ... Elgin Eagle Brewery. “It operated from the 1860s until Prohibition shut it down in 1920,” Kennedy said. “Another company kept making beer there ...