ASHEVILLE -- With the addition of three national breweries and dozens more craft beer start-ups popping up every year North Carolina's beer industry is hopping and hot on their trail is the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency.

At two recent festivals in Asheville, agents enforced what brewers say were previously unknown and unenforced state laws. Ward and Smith attorney Derek Allen specializes in beer law. He's been told the state is focusing on enforcing rules that impact the health, safety and welfare of the public.

"I get that, but educating the industry that's moving at lightning speed and already has these events planned and trying to retroactively go back and make sure they're compliant is a little bit difficult when you're doing it live without a net," says Allen.

Earlier this month, agents notified organizers of the Oskar Blues Burning Can Festival the day before the event that some of their out-of-state brewers did not have a license to pour. 

To enable the affected brewers to participate, the festival chose to refund about 2,000 ticket holders and turn the event into a private party. 

In June, agents performed breathalyzer tests on several brewery representatives at Asheville's Beer City Fest, saying they were prohibited from drinking while pouring beer. A spokesperson with the Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency says it's responding to complaints regarding practices at events and is regularly meeting with members of the industry to assist them in compliance.

Allen says the approximately 132 breweries in the state are working quickly to become more familiar with the law to make sure they don't face the same issues at future events.

"I think that you will see in the coming months compliant events, and this will all just die down," says Allen. "But you know we're really only looking at, in the last six or eight weeks, this new prioritization of enforcement by the ALE."

As of 2012, the state's beer industry contributed almost $3 billion to the state's economy and employed 37,000 people - though that number is likely to have increased since then with the industry's rapid growth.

(With Information from Stephanie Carson, NC News Service)