30th September, 2015 by Neal Baker

America now has over 4,000 beer breweries in operation, just tens short of its all-time record, the country’s Craft Beer Association has announced.

It is the first time that brewery numbers have been about the 4,000 mark in around 140 years, the association estimates.

Secondary sources say the high point of brewery numbers in the US was 4,131 in 1873. However, given the quickening rate at which new breweries are opening, a the record is expected to be broken in the next couple of months.

“Although precise numbers from the 19th century are difficult to confirm, this is almost certainly the first time the United States has crossed the 4,000 brewery barrier since the 1870s,” said Bart Watson, the Craft Beer Association’s chief economist.

“Given the strong pace of openings (an increase of 1.9 per day), it is likely that later in 2015, or early in 2016, there will be more active breweries in the United States than at any point in our nation’s history,” he said.

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