The Association of Brewers announced last week that the craft brewing industry had grown by 3.4 percent last year despite a sagging national economy.

The association measured growth by numbers of barrels of beer produced and said the craft beer had become an almost four billion dollar industry in the United States.

Among the 1,400 craft breweries in the U.S., the Association lists 73 microbreweries in Wisconsin, showing their state pride with such business names as Lakefront Brewery, Titletown Brewing and the Northwoods Brewpub.

“A microbrewery is classified as a business that produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer a year,” said Dan Carey, brewmaster at the New Glarus Brewing Company. “At 31 gallons per barrel that’s a little less than half a million gallons of beer per year. The largest American brewery is Anhesuer-Busch, which makes Budweiser, and they can make that much in five to ten minutes.”

Microbreweries often deal with the issues affecting the giants of the brewing industry as well as problems of small businesses.

Bobbie Marcus is general manager of Minocqua Brewing Company, a brewery that is also a pub and restaurant. Marcus said the business of beer takes on a different perspective when it is run from a small town like the tourist hub of Minocqua.

“Once our brewmaster was in the middle of the process of brewing a batch, and the town shut off the water works because they had a problem with some waterlines arising from construction going on downtown,” Marcus said.

Marcus said that because the brewmaster had to continue the process of brewing after the interruption, the result was a beer that was fine to drink but considerably sweeter than normal.

Any brewing company comes under scrutiny from the federal government, which has forced alcoholic beverage companies to change their products for reasons such as a cartoon character on the label that could be seen as targeting underage drinkers.

“When we started to bottle into six-packs, we had to start over getting permits for everything,” Marcus said. “There’s a lot of paperwork to go through.”

Marcus said virtually every aspect of microbrewery production has to be approved by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The ATF must approve the label, bottle, alcohol content, marketing and distribution of a brewery’s product before they can begin production.

“Sometimes its just a matter of the ATF people getting our forms in the mail and then making a decision based on regulations,” Marcus said. “Some things they say are fine, and some things they’re a little pickier about.”

Carey said smaller breweries often put a sense of community behind their product.

“We have a basic mission to have a safe and fulfilling place for our employees to work, and that’s followed by a strong desire to make the absolute best beer possible without compromise,” Carey said.

Carey said he believed paying closer attention to his employees in a smaller brewery translates to a better work environment, a better product and a better return on investments.

“Large breweries usually have a lot of money to work with and therefore are very technology,” Carey said. “But in a smaller brewery there is great attention to detail.”

Microbreweries can market themselves to more specific and direct areas of the beer-consuming public because of that attention to detail and the flexibility to be creative.

“If we see a need for a type of beer on the market, or if our customers are telling us they’d like to see a certain kind of beer produced, we’ll make it,” Carey said. “Products also get developed in a creative way. If we’re interested in trying something new and creative, we’ll do it regardless of whether or not we think it will sell very well.”

Marcus said Minocqua Brewing’s brewmaster was able to directly supervise every batch of beer brewed. In addition to the company’s six staple beers they have a “brewmaster’s special,” which changes seasonally.

“Because we’re not a big fat assembly line, we can be a little bit more creative,” Marcus said. “Anyone can brew beer, they don’t have to go to school for it.”

Marcus said an understanding for the machinery and ingredients were a necessary qualification that is often learned by apprenticing.

“It’s like working in a kitchen. Some of the best chefs in the world never went to culinary school, they just have a passion for what they do,” Marcus said.