On a recent Friday evening in an old factory building in Bristol, people crowded into two back rooms to down pints of beer. It looked like some kind of pop-up party, but it was actually just business as usual at the Firefly Hollow Brewing Company, one of the many new craft breweries to open in Connecticut in the last two years.

Connecticut microbrewers were once required to sell through distributors, which then delivered the product to stores and restaurants. A change in state law in July 2012 allows small breweries like Firefly Hollow, which opened last October, to sell anything from pints on up to half-gallon “growlers” directly to consumers, and earn higher profits in the process.

As a result, business at Firefly and other breweries around the state is booming. “We’re selling way more beer than we expected,” said Dana Bourque, Firefly’s head of brewery operations.

With about 15 craft breweries operating in the state, and several others poised to open, how many more can Connecticut support?