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In cities and neighborhoods across the country, it’s almost impossible not to stumble upon a craft brewery. Whether you’re near old industrial centers or visiting emerging suburban areas, these sudsy operations—which cater to a variety of beer lovers— have created a strong buzz within their communities and attracted locals and out-of-towners alike.
The surge occurred between 1985 and 2010, when mom-and-pop beer makers and their brick and mortar shops grew from 27 to 1,754. Over the next five years, that number accelerated to 4,225. As of 2023, the amount more than doubled to 9,683, a breakneck pace that only recently leveled off thanks to the pandemic.
As a result, craft breweries have become more than just local watering holes or distribution sites with adjacent taprooms. They are now symbols of transformation and revitalization within cities and surrounding areas, contributing to their economic and social growth, and often signaling revitalization in small communities and downtown districts by attracting tourists, restaurants, and other businesses.
Consider cities like Asheville, Tampa, Charlotte, Richmond, and Boise, whose clusters of craft breweries over the last decade have turned once-empty neighborhoods into metro centers bustling with young professionals and cultural capital.
“The whole craft beer industry scene has been extremely valuable,” says Matthew Robinette, Richmond Region Tourism’s vice president of visitor experience. “There’s a lot of value in craft beer as both an attraction in and of itself, and as a necessary experience for general visitors and residents.”
The economic impact has been hard to disregard. According to the Brewers Association, craft breweries contributed $72.2 billion to the U.S. economy in 2022, which comprises both beer itself and non-beer products like food and merchandise. The industry also created 460,000 total jobs, with close to 20,000 working at breweries themselves.
Still, in a post-Covid world, many craft brewers are adjusting their business models and finding new ways to attract beer drinkers whose habits and interests may have changed in recent years. That included opening taprooms with food options, using their space for game nights and communal events, and being more tactful about the beer they produce and the locations they open and expand.
“A lot of brewers are taking a look at what is important to their business,” says Mark DeNote, editor of Florida Beer News. “But what you see is this push, this kind of reinvention.”
When Bob Buckhorn took over as Tampa’s mayor in 2011, the city was in the throes of its worst recession since the Great Depression. As he took stock of job loss and house foreclosures, he mostly noticed that Tampa was losing its intellectual capital, as recent college graduates began migrating from Florida to other sunbelt cities—Austin, Raleigh, Durham, and Nashville. “There were no jobs here, there was no hope here, there were no opportunities here,” Buckhorn says.
If Tampa was going to compete to retain and attract young talent, Buckhorn knew he needed to change the economic DNA of the city. So he targeted a transformation of its downtown district, developing areas by the Hillsborough River, building out more residential housing, and promoting Tampa’s diversity and culture.
“To make this a city that was welcoming to everybody, I knew it meant turning our development strategies to focus on the waterfront and making that an asset as opposed to a liability,” Buckhorn says. “I also knew that if we were going to be a hip, cool place, that the emerging craft beer industry as well as cutting edge chefs and restaurants and food trucks had to be a part of that mix.”
Over time, Tampa’s cultural scene began to change, anchored by Joey Redner’s Cigar City Brewing, which kickstarted the city’s craft beer boom in 2009 by hiring and training brew masters that soon spawned competition. By 2017, one-third of Florida microbreweries came from Tampa, according to a micro-brew study at the time. The emergence of the craft beer industry in Tampa is a part of a larger movement in the state of Florida, where a recent study showed that craft beer contributed $3.1 billion to the economy and over 21,000 jobs.
Along the way, Buckhorn made concerted efforts to facilitate and champion various craft beer business milestones and openings, streamlined the parallel food truck industry, and even pronounced a “Florida Craft Beer Day.”
“They became tools for economic development, whether they knew it or not,” Buckhorn says of craft breweries. “It was one of the many tools in our toolbox that we took advantage of, that we cultivated, that we grew, that we celebrated, that we highlighted, that allowed us to go from a donor city of talent to an attractor of talent.”
Image Source: Ology Brewing Co.
Though Buckhorn left office in 2019, the momentum from his campaigning has continued, noticeable in Tampa’s various growing neighborhoods like Seminole Heights. That’s where Tallahassee-based Ology Brewing Company, founded by Nick Walker, opened a brewery and taproom in 2022, banking on the community’s love for craft beer and its recent growth within the industry.
“There’s a great craft beer culture, and being in Florida, we’ve been a part of that tangentially and had a lot of good relationships there for years,” Walker says.
“The breweries moved in just as the people started moving in,” DeNote says. “The density of people who had disposable income, who could afford the Seminole Heights experience, who were looking to take the kids to have a pint and a pizza—it gives you a consistent customer base before you even open your door.”
As it’s become harder to get people out of the house, breweries like Ology have also made sure to offer more than just beer. Across various cities, craft breweries are attracting a more diverse clientele and turning their drinking tables into communal spaces, often hosting trivia nights, themed gatherings, and family-friendly events.
“The brewery functions as this kind of multi-purpose space in a way that maybe it hadn’t previously,” DeNote says. “There’s people that use the brewery as their babysitter, and then there are people who go to the brewery for a quiet experience. Whether it’s right or wrong, the key is, do you want the brewery to survive?”
Image Source: Ology Brewing Co.
More people means more money. In addition to beer, Ology also has produced rum and bourbon and offers various cocktails, working with distributors to get their beer and liquor into local grocery stores. They’ve also opened up two nextdoor coffee shops and watched local pizza restaurants move in by a pair of their locations.
“We encourage and enjoy the growth around us,” Walker says. “In many ways [craft breweries] have become like the new church, where people have a place to go, socialize, relax, and be part of the community,” he adds. “You come hang out, have a conversation with a bartender, have conversations with people around you. It’s very much a community-driven business.”
The symbiotic relationship between craft breweries and local food and entertainment establishments have become catnip for tourism boards. A decade ago, Richmond’s historic Scott’s Addition neighborhood was a tough sell for visitors. But once brewers and then restaurants began migrating to the area, housing developments emerged, and the neighborhood became a destination.
“[Brewers] created an area that people could live, work, and play and potentially never leave,” Robinette says. “Someone could go grab some drinks at a brewery, head over to a [baseball] game, go back for dinner, and then catch a show at the Triangle Players Club. That’s awesome for residents and it’s awesome for visitors.”
With more brewers clustering together in different pockets of the city (a decision that allows them to share equipment and provide easy training), Richmond began marketing its own beer trail, a paper map that with enough stamps could earn beer drinkers free merchandise. But Robinette wanted a better understanding of where people were migrating and how long they were spending at various beer stops.
So, at the beginning of April, Richmond Regional Tourism announced a “mobile passport” that can be downloaded to smartphones, allowing visitors and residents the chance to check in to the city’s approximately 35 breweries, which generates $1.5 billion in economic impact. Though it’s a new program, Robinette is excited about having data on where drinkers are going, making it easier to promote specific breweries and the city itself.
“The brewery scene is kind of a reflection of the vibe and energy and creativity of the destination as a whole,” said Robinette.
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