Ohio is now home to 300 craft breweries and counting and the beer industry is big money for the state, according to a new study commissioned by the Ohio Craft Brewers Association (OCBA) which indicates that Ohio craft breweries were responsible for a total economic impact of $967 million in 2018.
Ohio craft breweries produced about 1.4 million barrels of beer last year making it the fourth highest state in the country for craft beer production. Approximately 50 new Ohio craft breweries opened in 2018, which represents about a 17% increase from the previous year. An additional 65 Ohio craft breweries are known to be in planning stages.
Note: the term “craft brewery” applies to one that is 1) small: produces less than six million barrels of beer annually and 2) independent: is less than 25 percent owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer, as defined by the national trade organization the Brewers Association.
The study, which was conducted by Silverlode Consulting, reports a marked increase in jobs, wages, and taxes among Ohio’s craft breweries with more than 8,000 jobs, $261 million in wages, $124 million in state and local taxes, and $53 million in federal taxes accounted for last year. The full study can be viewed here.
“Beer is big business in Ohio and our state’s independent craft breweries continue to grow at an impressive rate,” said OCBA executive director Mary MacDonald in a statement. “As craft breweries grow and mature, we’ve seen a marked increase in hiring for manufacturing jobs in the brewhouse, sales positions, marketing and finance, business administration and other professional jobs. Small businesses fuel the economy, and craft breweries continue to generate substantial impact to the state of Ohio.”
In addition to the economic impact study, OCBA also set out to measure how breweries give back to their communities through an informal survey in which 140 respondents reported a total of $1.15 million in charitable donations and 15,000 hours of volunteer service by brewery employees in 2018.
Nationally there were 7,346 craft breweries operating in 2018. Growth for the craft beer industry occurred in an overall down beer market, which dropped one percent by volume in 2018. About 1 out of every 4 dollars spent on beer in 2018 was spent on craft beer.
