A few months agon Jack Curtin used the term “the tipping point” (which comes from Malcolm Glaldwell’s book with that title) in writing about the spread of what those of us around here understandably describe as “real beer.”

And today the Los Angeles Times joins the fray by headlining the story on the cover of its Calendar section “At the tipping point: Roll out the barrel, beer lovers are eager to taste local microbrews.” (Registration may be required.)

This look at how and why Los Angeles has finally come to “get beer” includes a lengthy list of places to drink these beers and a shorter one of brewery restaurants.

“Wine paved the way here,” Sang Yoon (of the Father’s Office, long a bastion for better beer) says. “The success of wine has opened the door for craft beer, as people now have a basic understanding of wine they didn’t have 20 years ago. People are realizing that beer can taste like peaches, or beer can taste like a coffee, or beer can taste like a chocolate milkshake. It’s a far broader palate than wine. It’s like suddenly being handed a big box of crayons.”

This story appears just a day after the Brewers Association announced craft beer sales were up 11% in the first half of 2007 and dollar sales up 14%.

And before we could even get the link to the LA Times posted, this in from the Sun Sentinel in Florida: The Sunshine State is making a name for itself with great craft brews.

What’s next, North Dakota?

Repeat after us:

Craft beer sales soared in 2005.

Craft beer sales soared in 2004.

Craft beer sales soared in the first half of 2007.

It’s starting to seem like something other than news. But the Brewers Association did in fact have something new to report today when it released first-half data: For the first time ever craft beer has exceeded more than a 5% dollar share of total beer sales.

The volume of craft beer sold in the first half of 2007 rose 11% compared to this same period in 2006 and dollar growth increased 14%. Overall, the U.S. beer industry sold one million more barrels in the first half of 2007 compared to 2006, with 400,000 of these new barrels produced by craft breweries.

Scan data from Information Resources, Inc. provide confirm that craft beers sales are rocking. Craft sales in the supermarket channel through July 15 showed a 17.4% increase in dollar sales compared to the same period in 2006.

A small brewery in eastern Germany has gone so far as to employ the services of a rabbi to make sure its beer is kosher, and has so far benefited financially.

Almost all German beer brewed to the Reinheitsgebot is technically kosher — fit for consumption according to Jewish law. However, Brauerei Hartmannsdorf has Berlin Orthodox Rabbi Yitshak Ehrenberg oversee the brewing and bottling process and give it official kosher certification.

“For very religious Jews the availability of kosher beer is tremendously important,” a psokeman said. “The certification takes it to the next level.”

The Jewish organization Saxonian Friends of Israel and SCHALOM, a Jewish restaurant in Chemnitz, came up with the idea of producing a certified kosher beer and approached the brewer at the Brauerei Hartmannsdorf in Saxony for help.