Craft brewery count climbs over 2,500 mark

Lordy, lordy look who is over 2,500 — that’s you, craft beer industry! Cheers!

Something in our DNA or psychological makeup makes us all gravitate to round numbers, so get ready to gravitate: Brewers Association (BA) Director Paul Gatza announced on the Brewers Association blog that the number of U.S. breweries, by its count, is officially over the 2,500 mark.

The actual, unround count is now at 2,514 and climbing.

This count is up 422 from the May 31, 2012 count of 2092. The count on May 31, 2011, was 1,747. So we are at 767 more breweries in just two years. The annual increase in brewery count from May to May looks like:

2013 — 2514, an increase of 422 in the past year.

2012 — 2092, an increase of 345 in the year.

2011 — 1747, an increase of 132 in the year.

2010 — 1615, an increase of 93 in the year.

2009 — 1522, an increase of 63 in the year.

Those numbers must mean the count will start slowing soon, right? Wrong. Gatza goes on to report the breweries-in-planning count is up to 1,559.

Be sure to head to the Brewers Association blog and check out the full post.