I have this idea of old western taverns being full of beer. But since I’ve started working with breweries more often, I struggle to imagine brewing in sanitary conditions, effectively distributing beer from the brewery to the tavern, and keeping it cold and fizzy prior to serving.
There were two types of beer served in Western saloons: bottled beer brewed elsewhere and imported to the community, and beer 'on tap' and served fresh from a more local brewery. The West had connections with the international marketplace, so it was possible to import beer from a wide variety of locations. Archaeological evidence shows that there was British beer, for example, consumed in large quantities by the bottle in the West.
In addition, larger communities could support one or more local breweries. Saloons often took the title 'brewery' to indicate that they had a contract with a brewery and that they served fresh been on tap. This often leads to the modern misperception that these 'breweries and saloons' brewed and served beer, In general, the places that did the actual brewing did not serve, but rather had contracts with saloons as their outlets.