ABL Joins Beer Industry Partners for Capitol Hill Briefing

Beer Serves America report highlights value of beer to American economy

Bethesda, MD –– July 31, 2015 –– American Beverage Licensees (ABL) joined beer industry partners in a Capitol Hill briefing earlier this week to highlight the positive economic impact of the beer industry on multiple sectors of the American economy. Hosted by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association, and incorporating results from the recently released Beer Serves America economic impact report, the panel brought together trade groups representing brewers, beer wholesalers, beer retailers and aluminum can manufacturers.

Among other findings from the report, the beer industry contributes $265 billion to the economy, generates $48 billion in tax revenue, and creates 1.75 million jobs, which means that the three-tiers of the beer industry employ as many people as the entire single-family home construction industry in America.

Speaking from a beer retail perspective, ABL Executive Director John Bodnovich reported that direct retail beer sales create more than 805,000 jobs that pay, on average, nearly twice the federal minimum wage. They also account for an economic impact upwards of $50 billion dollars a year, which is more than the individual GDPs of South Dakota, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Vermont or Montana. If the American beer retail marketplace was a country, it would rank 80th globally in GDP.

“There are thousands of real-life versions of CHEERS; corner bars and taverns where everyone does, in fact, know your name. Beer sales in these businesses represent 44 percent of their total sales,” said Bodnovich. “Many off-premise beer jobs are with independent, civic-minded retailers who make a trip to the beer store both a shopping and educational experience by conducting tastings of new products, hosting beer-and-food pairing seminars and cooking classes, and generally serving as catalysts for the excitement and interest around beer.”

Bodnovich joined other industry leaders for the briefing including Jim McGreevy, President & CEO of the Beer Institute; Craig Purser, President & CEO of the National Beer Wholesalers Association; Robert Budway, President of the Can Manufacturers Institute; and economist John Dunham, author of the Beer Serves America report.

With beverage licensees responsible for selling an astonishing 68 billion 12-oz servings of beer per year, Bodnovich also remarked on the role that licensed beverage retailers play in the marketplace and their communities.

“With multiple generations and hundreds of thousands of employees on their payrolls, retail licensees are a vital part of the beer industry just like their brewer and distributor counterparts,” said Bodnovich. “Beer retailers’ are committed to being good partners by embracing their community responsibilities and sharing new and established products as the industry continues to evolve and grow.”