Beer industry contributes $2 billion annually to Maine’s economy
Courtesy / Rising Tide Brewing Co.
Rising Tide Brewing Co. , seen here loading a shipment of its beer earlier this year to the United Kingdom, is part of Maine craft beer industry’s overall rising tide.
A new report says the beer industry contributes $2 billion annually to Maine’s economy — and goes well beyond the burgeoning craft beer market.
The industry supports 15,531 jobs in Maine, according to a news release emailed to Mainebiz.
The 2018 “Beer Serves America” report was commissioned by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute.
The 15,531 jobs in Maine account for $595 million each year in wages and benefits.
The $2 billion figure is based not only on craft beers made and sold in Maine, but also on craft and “big beer” coming to Maine from out-of-state.
The "Beer Serves America" report is based on numbers from the following:
- Jobs, wages and output from the direct economic impacts of brewing, distribution and retailing.
- Supplier and induced economic impacts in areas like agriculture, business and personal services, retail and wholesale, and general manufacturing.
- Tax revenue.
Of that, craft beers made and sold in Maine account for $260 million in economic impact, based on the latest figures collected in 2017, Sean Sullivan, executive director of the Maine Brewers’ Guild, told Mainebiz.
In Maine, craft beer is at least 10% of the overall beer market, and could be approaching 12% to 13%, Sullivan said.
If nothing else, he said, the national report shows how much “big beer,” like Budweiser and Miller, is still consumed.
“But what’s cool is that, there are a lot of people who were drinking ‘big beer’ in Maine, but they had a brewery open in their town and they check it out,” he said. “That’s how we’re building market share. Five years ago, craft beer only had 3% to 5% of market share in Maine.”
Nationwide, the beer industry generates 2 million jobs and contributes $328 billion to the economy, according to Beer Serves America. Brewers and beer importers directly employ 70,000 people. Beer is an employment intensive industry in the U.S., ranging from barley growers to bartenders, farmers and factory workers.
The National Beer Wholesalers Association represents beer distributors. The Beer Institute is a national trade association for the brewing industry.
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