BIRMINGHAM – Beer is big business in Alabama, especially for consumers who are into craft brews.

The Montgomery Advisor writes that consumers have ample choices when it comes to beer, thanks to a series of laws passed in 2009 that have “opened up Alabama to the world of high-alcohol specialty beers, neighborhood brew pubs and microbreweries. It's a big change in a Bible Belt state that still has dry counties and legally banned home beer brewing and wine making until this year.”

Since 2009, Alabama retailers such as Rahim Budhwani jumped on the opportunity to sell craft beer on tap inside of his convenience stores, which are sold to customers in plastic, growler-type containers. And this year in May, Alabama became the 50th state to legalize home brewing.

Jason Wilson, founder of Back Forty Beer and president of the Alabama Brewers Guild, told the news source that Alabama-brewed beer only makes up a small fraction of all beer sold in the state, adding that the current beer scene would have been near impossible just a few years ago. “To look back at the landscape when we began…It’s pretty surreal now,” he said.

Today, 20 different brewers now operate in Alabama, including four restaurant-style brewpubs. The Brewers Guild says 40,000 barrels of beer will be brewed in Alabama this year compared to 1,000 barrels in 2009. However, craft beer still has a long way to go, where Alabama-brewed beer makes up just 2% of the total beer sales in the state.