The owners of Flat Earth Brewing Co. in St. Paul have a problem.

Twin Cities beer drinkers are thirsty for local brews, and Flat Earth — like other metro-area breweries — is having trouble keeping up with demand.

“It’s a good problem to have,” said Jeff Williamson, who owns Flat Earth with his wife, Cathie.

The brewery, which began making beer in St. Paul’s Highland neighborhood in 2007, is one of several local brewing companies to hit the scene in the past four years, and together, they’ve created something of a craft-brewing renaissance in the state.

Just last year, two new brewers opened in the metro area: Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater and Fulton Beer in Minneapolis. They’ve joined Flat Earth, Surly Brewing Co. in Brooklyn Center, Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul and local brewpubs in helping kick-start the Twin Cities as a brew town.

And local brewers admit, it’s not just their doing. The growth of local craft beers says as much about local beer drinkers as it does the breweries.

“It just goes to show that there are more and more people in our population that appreciate beers other than ‘the Great American Lager,’ ” said Summit founder Mark Stutrud, referring to the popular Budweiser and Coors beer brands.

At the Happy Gnome in St. Paul, which has 70 beers from around the world on tap, beer drinkers come out in full force.

“Our No. 1 beers are pretty much all locally brewed,” said Happy Gnome general manager Catherine Pflueger, adding that Surly’s “Furious” is the bar and restaurant’s most popular beer.

During a recent tour of the Surly brewery, St. Paul residents Jeff Christenson and his wife, Bridget, sampled some of the offerings.

“For me, the local aspect is a big part of it,” said Christenson, adding that he buys Surly more than any other beer. “I like the flavor, too.”

While the diversity and taste of craft beer play a role, local pride is a driving force behind the growing popularity.

“You realize they’re here, and accessible, and that it’s not just a robot making your beer,” said Chip Walton, a volunteer for Surly tours who’s also a homebrewer.

“It’s the beer geeks who drive it, and they feel like they’re a part of it,” he said.

‘A Lot Of Potential’ / The nation’s beer industry is dominated by Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors Brewing Co.

In fact, only 4.3 percent of the beer sold in the U.S. last year came from the craft brewers, according to the Brewers Association, which defines them as traditional, independent operations that produce less than 2 million barrels of beer a year.

But craft brewers are making gains. While overall beer sales in the U.S. dropped slightly last year, the industry group said craft-beer sales rose 7.2 percent.

There are some overall consumer trends — buying locally and buying from small and independent brewers — that are benefiting craft brewers, said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, a trade group for small American breweries.

Minnesota produced about 101,000 barrels of craft beer in 2008 — the equivalent of about 33 million 12-ounce beers, Gatza said.

A majority of that came from Summit, which last year produced about 87,500 barrels of beer, Stutrud said. Still, Summit commands only 2 percent of beer sales in the state, he said, calling the market share “still in its infancy.”

“The fact of the matter is that eight out of 10 beers consumed yet today in the country are light American lagers. There’s still a lot of potential out there,” said Stutrud, who started with five employees 24 years ago. He now has 50.

‘Liquid Inspiration’ / Craft breweries are small-scale, intimate and often innovative operations, according to the Brewers Association.

They tend to incorporate historic styles with a twist of originality. They sometimes create altogether new styles.

Lift Bridge makes a beer called “Biscotti,” which was borne of a Christmas tradition of one of the five owners. It gets its flavor “from malts that have a bready characteristic,” said CEO Dan Schwarz, who calls it “liquid inspiration.”

The folks at Flat Earth recently won an award for their “Grand Design Porter,” a version of their “Cygnus X-1 Porter” that is made to taste like a liquid s’more. The beer won the Snowshoe Award last month at the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild’s Winterfest.

Surly’s seasonal brew “Darkness” is a “massive Russian imperial stout” produced around Halloween that features chocolate, cherry, raisin, coffee and toffee flavors, according to the brewery’s Facebook page.

“Each beer has its unique story or birth,” said Surly owner Omar Ansari. “We wanted to brew some unique, uncompromising beers that were filled with flavor.”

Quality ingredients are key, Ansari said.

The Lift Bridge guys buy as many locally produced ingredients as possible, and one of the owners even grows hops in his back yard.

Many craft brewers got their start in homebrewing, including Ansari, who brewed beer at home for 10 years before he had the idea of going big.

“I was sitting there drinking a cup of coffee, watching my 2-year-old pad around, and thought, ‘I wonder if I could open a brewery.’ And here we are (today),” Ansari said.

The five owners of Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater started out as a group of buddies with a shared love of homebrewing. After two years of holding “brew sessions” in someone’s garage — tasting their creations and swapping ideas — they decided to launch their company.

Word-Of-Mouth Is Key / Many craft beer startups have little or no marketing budget, and rely on word-of-mouth promotion.

“The mistake some companies make is thinking they need to just spend money on advertising,” said Trevor Cronk, co-owner and vice president of marketing for Lift Bridge. “Self-distribution allows us to tell our story.”

Ansari, of Surly, said his company relies heavily on social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as its own Web site.

“The Internet has been a big player. We’ve never done any advertising or marketing,” Ansari said. “In the beginning, I was just blogging about what we were doing. It lets you tell your story in the most intimate manner.”

The Internet also allows beer enthusiasts across the country to connect in a way never before possible.

“People want to buy our beer in every state in the country,” he said. “How would that have been possible without the Internet?”

Ryan Anderson founded the beer blog MNBeer.com in 2005, after noticing a lack of information about locally produced beers.

He aimed to become a clearinghouse of information for beer enthusiasts, and the site has become a go-to for news about the latest beers and up-and-coming breweries.

“Since we’ve started, we’ve seen huge growth in local beer,” Anderson said. “And for that matter, enthusiasm for local beer.”

Working Together / There were more than 30 breweries established in Minnesota before it even became a state, according to Doug Hoverson, author of “Land of Amber Waters: The History of Brewing in Minnesota.”

The conditions then were ripe for local breweries: road quality was poor; trains didn’t reach every town; local taverns wanted cheap and fresh beer; and national brands weren’t in demand like today, according to the book.

“Consumers placed their trust in the discretion of the local merchant to select the best goods rather than in the reputation of the far away manufacturer,” Hoverson wrote.

Prior to prohibition, 250 breweries were founded in the state.

Nearly 25 breweries resumed or started production when beer was legalized again, but not everyone made it. From 1975 to 1985, there were just four breweries in Minnesota, Hoverson wrote.

Today, there are fewer than two dozen breweries and little more than a dozen brewpubs in Minnesota. But the names and brands of Minnesota beers that persevered are still well-known, like Grain Belt, Hamm’s, Stroh’s and Pig’s Eye, many now being made by other breweries.

The August Schell Brewing Co. in New Ulm is the longest-standing, and is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Summit has been around for more than 20 years and is known among local brewers as a trailblazer in the revitalization of craft beer.

The rising number of local breweries isn’t hurting Summit, said Stutrud, who added that local breweries are going to have to work together to grow the market.

It’s the kind of cooperation appreciated by startups, said Flat Earth’s Williamson.

“Stutrud … pulled me aside before we even brewed drop one here and said that if we ever needed anything — people, ideas, raw materials — call and they would help us out any way they could,” Williamson said.

The breweries’ growth largely will come from turning on local beer drinkers to their products.

“We want to grow here at home,” Stutrud said. “I didn’t start this brewery to ship beer to Boston or Seattle.”

“We can be profitable and we can be very successful without having to be national,” he said.

Suds Samples

In addition to the growing number of bars and liquor stores carrying Minnesota brews, local beer festivals are good opportunities to discover the area’s offerings.

At the 2010 Firkin Fest last weekend at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul, an estimated 2,400 people tasted dozens of small-batch beers — many of them local. The festival is named for the “firkin” — a small keg where cask ale is fermented.

Of the 10 awards given out at the festival, seven went to Minnesota breweries, with Lift Bridge Brewery taking home the “Golden Firkin” — the festival’s best-of-show award — for their “Chestnut Hill” nut brown ale.

On May 7, local beers will be on tap at Family Tree Clinic’s 10th annual Arborfest on the campus of Macalester College. Visitors can sample more than 50 regional beers and wines at the event.

And this summer, beer lovers are expected to flock to the second annual St. Paul Summer Beer Fest at Midway Stadium. The June 20 event — which sold out beforehand last year — likely will have beer from more than 60 breweries.

The Beer Dabbler event July 17 at Highland Fest in St. Paul also will be serving regional craft beers.

More information can be found at familytreeclinic.org/arborfest, stpaulsummerbeerfest.com and thebeerdabbler.com/highland.