BOULDER, Colo. – The Beer Smackdown has a new champ: Craft beer. The production of specialty brew posted strong growth in 2013 (9.6%), while overall beer production declined 1.4%, according to Technomic.

The continued appeal of craft beer has sparked a new generation of brewers, who prefer to focus on small batch beer, CNBC reports. “Over the last couple of years, the number of new brewery openings has been at near unprecedented levels,” said Bart Watson, an economist for the Brewers Association. “We're seeing breweries open at about a rate of 1.2 per day.”

Today’s trend mirrors the rise of brew pubs during the 1990s and early 2000s, although now, the focus is more on microbreweries that distribute their bottles in the same retail channels long dominated by beer giants, such as Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch, and craft brewers with a national audience, such as Boston Beer Co., and Sierra Nevada. The big brewers have taken notice and are now selling their own versions of craft beer.

More than 2,700 craft breweries operate in America, the highest number in more than 130 years. What’s helping these new, smaller and often regional craft breweries is that their client base is generally financially stable. For example, Nielsen found that 59% of those who buy craft beer have annual incomes $75,000 and higher.

“The innovative nature of these craft brewers has driven this market,” said Watson. “Every brewer in the market seems like they're brewing something new that you've never heard of.”