NC tops 300 brewery permits as count booms

North Carolina topped 300 breweries in 2017 for the first time in its history, but the Tar Heel State is still about 700 short of leading the nation, according to government data.

At the end of September, North Carolina had 324 breweries registered with the government's Tax and Trade Bureau, which regulates taxes on alcohol, tobacco and firearms. The Q3 total is up from 260 at the end of 2016.

NC broke the 300 mark at the end of Q2, when the TTB reported 311 breweries in the state.

The number of breweries listed by the TTB represents all brewery permits granted by the bureau, not necessarily the total number of open, active breweries in the state. The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild said there are 245 open breweries with at least another 55 in planning stages.

Despite its growth, though, North Carolina is still several hundred breweries behind California, which leads all states with 1,089.

In 2012, fewer than 100 breweries called North Carolina home, and there weren't any reported to the TTB as recently as 1988.

North Carolina's brewery count hovered between 35 and 52 from the mid-1990s until 2010 when it began its rapid growth.

The state hasn't reported a net loss in breweries since the number dropped from 46 to 45 between 2006 and 2007.