The rising tide of craft beer has turned into a pleasant flood in central Ohio. At least a dozen breweries in the Columbus area have completed some type of expansion or will do so in the coming months. Plans for new breweries, taprooms and brewpubs are everywhere. This doesn't even include plans by Scotland's BrewDog to build a $30 million brewery and U.S. headquarters in Canal Winchester, a move that will vault the brewer among the nation's larger craft-beer makers.

The rising tide of craft beer has turned into a pleasant flood in central Ohio. At least a dozen breweries in the Columbus area have completed some type of expansion or will do so in the coming months. Plans for new breweries, taprooms and brewpubs are everywhere.

This doesn�t even include plans by Scotland�s BrewDog to build a $30 million brewery and U.S. headquarters in Canal Winchester, a move that will vault the brewer among the nation�s larger craft-beer makers.

�It is so extremely hot,� said John Gordon, a food and beverage industry analyst, of the march being made by smaller brewers.

The craft segment grew 17 percent by volume last year, in contrast with the overall beer market, which did not grow. Craft brewers controlled 11 percent of the beer market in 2014.

The Brewers Association, a trade group for craft brewers, expects craft beer to control 20 percent of the nation�s $101 billion beer market by 2020. The number of breweries in the U.S. hit 4,144 at the end of November, surpassing the 4,131 at the beer industry�s height in 1873.

Given that there are 270 million more Americans now than in 1873, craft beer still has plenty of room to grow, said Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association.

The explosive growth in craft beer locally makes sense to Fred Lee, owner of Actual Brewing Co. Younger consumers have shown a preference for something different from what their parents ate, wore, or in this case, drank.

�People want to experience new stuff,� Lee said. �And consumers have responded by buying craft beer. We are all playing catch-up on consumption.�

As giant AB Inbev loses market share and therefore makes less beer, there are huge opportunities for local craft brewers, Lee said. The Budweiser plant in Columbus makes 10 million barrels a year, making more in one day than almost every central Ohio craft brewer combined.

�That�s how big this is,� Lee said. �My 2,000 barrels is nothing. There is a lot of room out there.�

The examples of local growth are many.

In 2015, Dan Cochran moved Four String�s brewery into a building on N. Hague Avenue. With the new facility, Cochran has been able to enter the Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati markets.

The Hague Avenue brewery also will have a taproom and give tours on weekends.

Cochran, who celebrated his brewery�s fourth birthday on Halloween, didn�t foresee such rapid growth � he has gone from serving beer from repurposed dairy tanks in a small space on Sixth Avenue to statewide distribution � but now he doubts business will slow anytime soon.

�The new building will allow us to grow for years to come,� Cochran said. �The sales have been great so far.�

Barley�s swapped buildings for its new brewing operation. It originally planned to use the Keyes Plumbing building in the Arena District, but it instead settled on a spot at W. Whittier and S. Front streets. Barley�s looked at the growth of craft beer and decided it needed more room to grow.

�It�s a much, much larger building,� Boyland said. �We have 35 wholesale accounts now. We�re hoping to have 350.�

Barley�s will either can or bottle beer, maybe both, Boyland said.

A new canning line at Four String made its beers more profitable, Cochran said. Four String used to rent a mobile line to can its beers.

North High just added its own canning line as well, along with additional fermentation tanks.

Plans at Wolf�s Ridge Brewing Co. call for more fermentation tanks to be installed this month. The new tanks will triple the Downtown brewpub�s capacity and enable much wider distribution of its bottled beers.

The biggest of central Ohio�s craft brewers, Columbus Brewing, should open its new brewery soon. The $4 million project has been delayed as the company works to make sure it gets everything right.

�This is a big jump,� said Columbus Brewing owner Eric Bean. �We�re not just doubling capacity; we�re building infrastructure for 400 percent growth.�

Bean estimated that 2015 production will reach 12,000 barrels, hitting his projection in spite of the new brewery�s delay.

�We�re cranking on that thing,� Bean said of his current brewery shoehorned in a building behind the Columbus Brewing Co. restaurant in the Brewery District. �We�re squeezing out every last sponge.�

The boom in craft beer has reached far beyond bearded brewers in beaten-up flannel button-downs fermenting beer in plastic buckets. Established restaurant chains such as Buffalo Wild Wings are chasing craft beer�s popularity, and concepts such as Brass Tap, BJ�s Restaurant & Brewhouse and World of Beer are built on it, Gordon said.

The latest example of craft beer�s ascendance is big alcoholic-beverage company Constellation Brands announcing that it is buying California�s Ballast Point for $1 billion. Ballast Point is a bit bigger than Cleveland�s Great Lakes Brewing Co., the largest Ohio-based craft brewery. Ballast Point sold $51 million worth of beer in the first half of 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal.

�That is a ferocious multiple,� Gordon said of the Ballast Point sale.

It is also something of a sign for local brewers, a mark of their success and the possibilities.

�That�s a lot of money. Did I mention my brewery is for sale?� Columbus Brewing�s Bean said, laughing. �It�s not, really.�

jmalone@dispatch.com