wholesaler three-tier system distributor retailers left up to the states Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Grant's Brewery Pub Yakima, Washington William Penn Samuel Adams Patrick Henry BridgePort Brewing Company Portland, Oregon Dock Street Brewing Company Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Triple Rock taverns beer brewpub craft breweries Brewers Association pub Oregon cans
American microbreweries typically distribute through a wholesaler in a traditional three-tier system, others act as their own distributor (wholesaler) and sell to retailers or directly to the consumer through a tap room, attached restaurant, or off-premises sales. Because alcohol control is left up to the states, there are many state-to-state differences in the laws. Following the federal US government shutdown on October 1, 2013, craft beer producers were forced into an activity lull due to the closure of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), an arm of the Treasury Department. The TTB is responsible for granting approval for new breweries, recipes, and labels. Interest spread to the US, and in 1982, Grant's Brewery Pub in Yakima, Washington was opened, reviving the US "brewery taverns" of well-known early Americans as William Penn, Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry. Growth was initially slow—the fifth US brewpub (BridgePort Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon) opened in 1984, and Dock Street Brewing Company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1985  by Rosemarie Certo and Jeffrey Ware, and continues to operate today with multiple locations in Philadelphia, then Triple Rock in 1986, but the growth since then has been considerable: the Brewers Association reports that in 2012 there were 2,075 regional craft breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs in the US
