If you needed one more reason to love craft beer! According to a report from the New York State Brewers Association, the industry generated huge bucks in 2018. How much? Try $5.4 billion dollars.

The direct economic impact on the state is about $3.5 billion, when factoring brewing, wholesaling, and retailing. This puts it up against the state's long successful wine industry when it comes to revenue. People like to drink, don't they?

WROC reports that the number includes revenue generated by the breweries, beer sales, suppliers, employee wages, taxes, plus tourists and visitors. The report goes on to say that the industry employees 19,918 employees, and generated 48.6 million visitors.

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