Great news for Michigan, especially if you like beer.

According to a new national report as reported in Mlive.com Michigan’s beer industry is frothing over the mug.

The new report which reviewed data at the employment and wage level in 2016 found that the Michigan beer industry is worth $10.5 billion dollars to our state.

I used term frothing over the mug because that number is up from $6.64 billion in 2014, according to the study performed in 2014.

I guess the question at this point is this a good number or a bad number?  Has the number grown so rapidly because people are drinking too much beer or more people have decided to drink a few beers once in a while?

The good news economically according to the report is the following:

  • 34,390 jobs in Michigan are directly related to the beer industry when you include brewing, wholesale and retailing
  • Economic activity from those jobs totaled $941,748,800
  • 14,134 people are employed in Michigan as suppliers to the beer industry which generated $851 million in wages
  • Those almighty taxes paid by consumers of beer and businesses related to the beer industry paid $1.49 billion in Michigan in 2016

Did you know that according to Spencer Nevins, president of the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association:

"(O)ur state is a top five beer producer in the country."

Also it was found that approximately 10% of our beer sales in Michigan comes from craft beer, of which there are 200 in Michigan alone.  The top brands that are sold are:

  • Bell's and Founder's
  • Short's
  • New Holland
  • Atwater
  • Dark Horse
  • Arcadia

Michigan enjoy your beer but most importantly drink responsibly and do not drive after drinking those craft or non-craft beers.

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