Yet another study says so.
Texas ranks second only to California in the economic impact derived from craft brewing, a report from the Brewers Association says.
This burgeoning class of smaller, independently owned craft breweries, along with their distributors, retailers and bar/restaurant workers, added $2.3 billion to the Texas economy in 2012, the report says.
That’s part of an estimated $33.9 billion national number cited in the report, which the industry group said measures “the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves through the three-tier system (breweries, wholesalers and retailers), as well as all non-beer products that brewpub restaurants sell.”
The Brewers Association said the nation’s 2,000-plus craft breweries and brewpub restaurants sold 13.2 million barrels of beer with a retail value of nearly $12 billion during 2012.
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The Texas Craft Brewers Guild hailed the Brewers Association findings as confirming its own assessment last year that craft brewing could be upward of a $5.6 billion industry here by 2020.
The guild noted that Texas ranked fourth among the states in the number of craft-related jobs and third in “labor income produced from craft breweries through direct and indirect economic impact.”
It also found positive news in the state’s No. 34 ranking for per-capita economic impact.
“This finding clearly demonstrates … there remains significant room for growth for the Texas craft beer industry,” the guild said in a statement.
You can see the study here, and the Texas Craft Brewers Guild’s statement is here. The TCBG has done its own study with similar findings. You can see it with your own eyes – craft beers are on the menu at restaurants all over town, local microbrewers are expanding, and as a general rule new startups do a lot of hiring as they expand. I don’t think the market is anywhere near saturated yet. Keep on keeping on, y’all.