microbrew

Microbrews are usually beers or ales made with special malts and hops, unfiltered and unpasteurized, and thus distinctive in their aroma and flavor. Many microbreweries double as bar/restaurants, called brewpubs, where the gleaming vats may be visible behind a glass partition. "Craft brewing" and the opening of local brewpubs began in earnest in the U.S. in the 1980s. But not everyone is willing to pay extra for a beer, and lots of people are simply used to the blander taste of the best-selling beers, so by 2008 microbrews still only accounted for about 4% of all beer sold in the U.S.