Let's toast: Ohio is the nation's sixth-largest brewing employer directly employing or supporting 83,000 jobs statewide, according to an industry group.
Ohio's breweries support $3 billion in workers' wages and pump $10 billion overall into the state's economy, according to the Beer Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. Kentucky ranks 32nd in the nation, employing more than 16,000 and contributing $1.6 billion to the state economy.
Mike Wayne, general manager of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co.'s brewery in Over-The-Rhine, said Cincinnati's craft beer boom is creating more jobs. More local aficionados have turned pro in the last half decade looking to make Cincinnati a brewing capital again.
"We were the original brewing city outside of Germany," Wayne said. "We were the best once, we can be the best again."
Christian Moerlein employs 25 at its brewery, while the Christian Moerlein Lager House employs 300. Wayne said Moerlein hopes to employ more than at the brewery within three to five years.
"We have the whole industry here in Ohio: from guys brewing half a barrel at home all the way up to giants producing 1 million barrels a year."
MillerCoors operates the region's largest brewery in Trenton, creating
9 million barrels a year, while the region is dotted other local craft brewing players: Rivertown, MadTree and Rhinegeist.America's craft brewing renaissance is a strong source of industry growth. Craft brewers sold $14.3 billion worth of beer last year up
20 percent, according to industry estimates. Overall beer sales held steady last year at $93 billion.Chris Thorne, a spokesman for the beer institute, said craft brewing is spawning start-up businesses and innovation.
"We've seen a surge in the number of brewers it's something we're proud of," Thorne said. "We're an innovative business."
The institute estimates every brewery job creates 45 others among suppliers and vendors.
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