Attorney turned brewer, Michael Peticolas built the Peticolas Brewing Company in Dallas, Texas, in 2011. During the first year of operations, Peticolas Brewing won the biggest award in the craft beer industry, a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Texas craft brewers subsequently elected Michael Peticolas to the board of directors for the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and its members elected him co-chair of the legislative committee the following year. An additional gold medal at the 2014 Great American Beer festival, as well as a lawsuit filed against the State of Texas to further the rights of Texas craft brewers, established Peticolas Brewing as a Texas craft beer industry leader.