Trim Tab Brewing Company's Paradise Now Raspberry Berliner Weisse started as a seasonal beer. It sold out of the tap room within two days of its release, and sold out in the market within two weeks, and the brewery knew right away it couldn't just be a seasonal.

It broke records for the brewery as soon as it was released - but this year, Trim Tab owner Harris Stewart learned its growth was exceptional nationwide.

IRi InfoScan compiled a report on the 2016 craft beer sector for the Brewers Association. The Berliner Weisse had the second highest sales of any new craft seasonal brand, with the report estimating $204,000 in sales.

"That was an astounding revelation," Stewart said.

The sour, 5.5 percent alcohol by volume beer is a German style wheat beer fermented with raspberries and tart cherries. It's now available year-round. Trim Tab released it in cans in March of 2016.

"After we launched the Raspberry Berliner Weisse, we were almost immediately at capacity because we didn't expect that beer to have such an impact on the market," Stewart said.

Trim Tab opened its tasting room in Birmingham's Lakeview neighborhood in early 2014 before launching its first canned beer in late 2015, the Trim Tab IPA. In February 2016, it began canning the Pillar to Post Rye Brown. Gulf of Birmingham is the brewery's local distributor.