If you’re a brewer of craft beer, 2007 was another year to raise the mug and say “Cheers!”Sales by independent craft brewers grew 12 percent by volume and 16 percent in dollars last year, according to the Brewers Association, a trade association based in Boulder, Co.

Craft brewers’ share of the U.S. beer category is 3.8 percent of production and 5.9 percent of retail sales, according to the group. Almost 70 percent of craft brewers are brewpubs that sell most or all of their beer on-premise.

Since 2004, dollar sales by craft brewers have increased 58 percent, according to the Brewers Association. The industry now has more than $5.7 billion is sales.

In St. Louis, St. Louis Brewery Inc. — maker of Schlafly beer and the biggest local craft brewer — sold 19,935 barrel equivalents of beer. That was 16.5 percent jump from 2006.