It’s hard not to notice some echoes of the classic S-shape in the graph of craft beer market share. What would a diffusion model project for the next five to 10 years?

Good times returned to the U.S. beer industry in 2012, and great times continued for the vast majority of Americas 2,347 craft breweries.

Given the continuing economic doldrums and persistently high unemployment since 2009, it might be easy to start thinking of craft beer as “recession-proof.” But is it?

Two hundred and fifty breweries opened in the United States in 2011, providing one of many bright spots in a year in which craft brewer volumes grew 13%.