Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the United States. Within the United States, beer is manufactured by more than 1,500 breweries which range in size from beverage industry giants to small brew pubs that sell their beer only on premises. Many people in the United States also enjoy the hobby of homebrewing. The United States produces about 230 million hectoliters (about 6 billion gallons) of beer annually and leads the world in beer production with regards to volume. The number of breweries in the United States ranks first in the world. Beer consumption by Americans is about 85 liters annually, which in 2002 ranked 8th in the world. There were about 1,400 breweries in the United States before Prohibition, and they produced a variety of beer. Prohibition caused nearly all American breweries to close and all were forced to end legal production. After prohibition, the brewing industry was dominated by a smaller collection of breweries. In the late 1970s, American law changed in several ways that were beneficial to small breweries and the craft-beer revolution began.

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