So, is it a bubble?

Well, I don't know. It's easy to see a bubble in retrospect, but rather harder before the fact.

It does look like there's a steep climb in new starts without any real market justification (that I can see).

And of course, the quaffale numbers aren't claimed definitive.

But you should see the most excellent Quaffale site for more info.

Update:

Oh Piss.  The late Simon Johnson beat me to this graph 6 months ago, his here: http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/haddonsman/brewery_zpsdaf90b09.jpg

Another Update: Some important dates for consideration when looking at these wiggly lines:
1979 Birth of what will become firkin chain (Bruce's Brewery)
1988 Firkin chain acquired by Midsummer Leisure
1991 Firkin taken over by Allied Lyons (and expands)
1993 (I think) All those little cellar tanks taken out (and sold 2nd hand)
1989 - 2003 Beer Orders in force (I think)
1999 Punch sells off 110 firkin pubs.
2002 PBD introduced.
2009 UK base rate goes down to 0.5%

And Another Update: According to Quaffale, of the 585 breweries opened since (including) 2009, 127 (21.7%) are brewpubs.

Truth in Advertising.

Lest we forget...

 BrewDog is a post Punk apocalyptic mother fu*ker of a craft brewery. Say goodbye to the corporate beer whores crazy for power and world domination. Swear allegiance to the uncompromising revolution. Taste the hops, live the dream. Learn to speak beer, love fruit and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, movers and warriors - the outlaw elite. Ride toward anarchy and caramel craziness. Let the sharp bitter finish rip you straight to the tits. Save up for a Luger, and drill the bastards.

"It wasn't removed because of them [the ASA], we just happened to be switching up the website content."

And, as someone else wrote:
"its great people have got that much time on their hands to report companies over insignificant things like language on a website"

Crikey, who would do such a thing?

A later clarification:

"because we needed to make room to talk about our Equity for Punks offer"
Ah, gotcha.

A musing on the latest Brewdog Crowdfunding effort.