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Michigan leads the Midwest with billion-dollar beer

An ag economist attributes Michigan’s billion-dollar beer economy to a growing value chain and conducive legislative environment for business development.

“If you develop an institutional climate or regulatory climate within a state that really promotes the entrepreneurship that happens in craft beer, your state’s economy can actually reap the benefits.”       

Trey Malone with Michigan State University tells Brownfield a reduced regulatory environment for craft beer has exploded the industry over the last decade which now includes more than 330 breweries, the most east of the Mississippi.

“Michigan has probably the strongest craft beer scene in the Midwest.  I think that the value chain that we have is very unique relative to just about any other state.”    

He says the growth in inputs like barley and hops is also expanding and farmers have been able to benefit. “For every dollar that you spend on a Michigan beer, nine cents go to malting barley, six cents go to hops and three cents goes directly to the brewer.”         

Malone says Michigan’s diversity is allowing growers to market favor profiles and Terroir-driven beer where the soil, climate, and environment can change the flavor of hops, “the idea that hops taste differently based on where they grow.”

The study was the first of its kind which Malone says will set the standards for how to measure the craft beer industry in other states.