Economic impact of Ohio craft beer industry tops $1 billion

The Ohio Craft Brewers Association’s biennial economic impact report shows that Ohio’s craft brewing industry resumed its expected growth in 2022 after an 8.9% pandemic-induced downturn in 2020.

Forty-four Ohio breweries opened in 2022, bringing the state total to 420 craft breweries at the end of last year. Ohio’s craft beer production volume ranks sixth among U.S. states at approximately 1.29 million barrels, up 18.7% from 2020 levels. The impact report shows the regional and statewide contributions Ohio craft breweries make to the state economy:

• $1.27 billion economic output (up from $880.7 million in 2020)
• $141.5 million state and local taxes ($99.8 million in 2020)
• $85.8 million federal taxes ($58 million in 2020)
• 12,040 jobs (8,295 in 2020)
• 8,095 households supported (5,577 in 2020)
• $389.0 million labor income ($253.1 million in 2020)

In addition, the 179 brewers that responded to the impact survey donated approximately $2.4 million to charitable causes and gave an additional 22,000 volunteer hours to community groups.

Much of the industry’s economic impact growth is attributable to consumer spending in brewery taprooms around the state. However, small and independent breweries still face significant obstacles to growth via distribution, attributable to an increase in competition over the past 10 years as well as artificial barriers to market access caused by Ohio’s nearly 50-year-old franchise law, which traps small breweries in unfair, unbreakable contracts with large, powerful distributors.

The full 2022 Economic and Fiscal Impact of Ohio’s Craft Brewing Industry report is available here.

Founded in 2007, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association is a nonprofit guild that exists to promote, preserve, diversify and unify Ohio’s craft brewing industry.