[Bond James Bond]

How Craft Breweries Are Helping to Revive Local Economies

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Across the country, in once-bustling manufacturing centers, breweries are giving new fizz to sleepy commercial districts. If alcohol-based businesses were blamed for a breakdown of society in the Prohibition era and beyond, breweries are now being seen as a force for good.

“The economic ripple effects are definitely there,” said David Barnett, a Chicago-based senior research analyst for JLL, the commercial brokerage firm. Breweries “create a cool tourism aspect for out-of-towners, but it’s been good for residents as well.”

 

[TampaMike]

It's interesting to see how influential craft breweries have been in some communities. I lived in Winona, Minnesota for about 8 years and when go back to visit, I always have to hit up one of the few breweries in town there. It's honestly one of the most buzzing establishments on the weekend there, even more than the bars that I can say had been the "to-go place" for many before these breweries. And a nice beer definitely helps in the winter months.

And they definitely have their own tourism industry. I have met and talked to many at the breweries around downtown St. Petersburg that traveled hours to just go to the breweries around the city. I talked to a couple last week that was from Charleston visiting and was spending the majority of their time going to brewery after brewery and trying out flights and occasionally buying shirts or a hat.

I do wonder if they'll ever fade though. It seems like almost an industry that would never die and will always have a need.

 

[FLAWDA-FELLA]

From what I have heard here locally in the Jacksonville area they have been hugely successful for the most part. :cheers1: