Today is National American Beer Day

No that's not redundant. I know National and American are pretty much the same thing. No, this is celebrating American Beer...brewed in this country.

And it's not just something made up either. Well I guess technically it is made up but it's a thing so if you needed a reason to enjoy your favorite American crafted beer then today is the day.

There are more than 2,100 breweries that manufacture beer in the United States. They range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries.

The U.S. produced 196 million barrels of beer in 2009.

The U.S. consumes roughly 20 US gallons of beer per capita annually.

In 2008, the United States was ranked sixteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.

Prohibition in the early twentieth century caused nearly all American breweries to close.

After prohibition was repealed the industry had consolidated into a small number of large-scale breweries.

The majority of the new breweries in the U.S. are small breweries and brewpubs, who, as members of the Brewers Association, are termed “craft breweries” to differentiate them from the larger and older breweries.

The most common style of beer produced by the big breweries is American lager.

Most of the smaller breweries, which were founded in the 1980′s, produce a range of styles.

Beer styles originating in the United States include:
American pale ale, Pennsylvania porter, American IPA, steam beer, amber ale, cream ale and Cascadian dark ale.

Remember, if you are going to partake in celebrating National American Beer Day do so responsibly. Don't drink and drive.