My reference to Enoch Thompson didn’t get me wacked yesterday, but maybe this will – here is what at stake in the fight for beer reform in Texas.
If Texas brewing laws were reformed to allow brewpubs to distribute and packaging breweries to sell to consumers at their breweries and the Texas craft brewing industry was able to replicate the growth in the wine industry from 2001-2009 following reforms in their industry in 2003, we could see:
- $678.8 million per year in new economic activity
- 6,829 new jobs created
- $171.8 million of new annual payrolls created
- $56.8 million of annual state and local taxes generated
Seem like a stretch to think Texas breweries can match the growth of Texas wineries? Consider that Texas consume 19 times more beer than wine. The wine industry trajectory is just the start!
Source: February 2011 Texas Craft Brewers Guild Industry Economic Impact Study. Full disclosure: I’m the economist who wrote said study.
