Drinking Beer is Patriotic Part II

August 7, 2015 – A year ago, September 1 to be precise, we declared that drinking beer is patriotic because of the industry’s contribution to the U.S. economy. It is still a patriotic pastime when the numbers are analyzed. Fortune magazine offered a great perspective showing that this $252.6 billion (with a “b”) industry has twice the impact of the wine industry and even surpasses the U.S. video game industry.

Some other statistical nuggets we found in the article include the fact that one in every 10 beers sold in America is a craft beer and that craft industry has been a boon for farmers since craft beers use between three and seven times as much malt per barrel as a mass market brews.

According to the Beer Institute, a trade organization, the overall industry supports 1.75 million jobs with wages of $78.6 billion. The figure is calculated based on direct jobs at breweries, distributors, retailers, importers, suppliers and so on.

And like last year, taxes that are generated by the beer industry amount to $48.5 billion, which is almost 40 percent of the retail price of every beer.

So the next time you crack a cold one, you are just doing your patriotic duty.