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A Craft Brewery a Day: Association Numbers Show Strong Growth in 2012

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If it seemed like a new craft brewery opened every day last year, you’d pretty much be right—figuratively speaking of course. Paul Gatza, the director of the Brewers Association (BA), took to his blog in “U.S. Brewery Count Rises to 2,336” to provide an updated number of operational breweries, including those who opened their doors and crafted their first batch of beer in 2012.

“The growth has been fast and steady over the past year,” said Gatza. “The December 31, 2012 count came in at 2,336 breweries—an increase of 387 more than the year-end 2011 count of 1,949.”

If you haven’t already scrambled to find your cell phone calculator, that comes out to 1.06 new breweries for every day of 2012.

In addition to active breweries, the BA also counts that 1,254 prospective breweries-in-planning were in some phase of opening in 2012, suggesting that this year has the potential to keep up with that pace.

Look for official 2012 growth statistics from the Brewers Association later this spring.

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Andy SparhawkAndy Sparhawk, the Brewers Association’s Craft Beer Program Coordinator, is a Certified Cicerone® and BJCP Beer Judge. He lives in Arvada, Colorado where he is a homebrewer and avid craft beer enthusiast. On occasion, Andy is inspired to write on his experiences with craft beer, and if they are not too ridiculous, you might see the results here on CraftBeer.com.

Andy Sparhawk, the Brewers Association's acting editor-in-chief for CraftBeer.com. Andy is a Certified Cicerone® and BJCP Beer Judge. He lives in Westminster, Colorado where he is an avid craft beer enthusiast. On occasion, Andy is inspired to write on his experiences with craft beer, and if they are not too ridiculous, you might see the results here on CraftBeer.com.

CraftBeer.com is fully dedicated to small and independent U.S. breweries. We are published by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers. Stories and opinions shared on CraftBeer.com do not imply endorsement by or positions taken by the Brewers Association or its members.