How big is San Diego's craft beer industry? Bigger than Taylor, Kanye, Ed, the Eagles...

San Diego Union-Tribune

Aug. 16, 2019 10 AM PT

State of Play

To gauge craft beer’s key role in San Diego County, check out annual review prepared by San Marcos State University and the San Diego Brewers Guild. Released Tuesday, it contains staggering stats for 2018. For instance:

$848 million: annual local industry revenue.

$1.2 billion: total economic impact in 2018.

$5 million: charitable contributions.

1.13 million: barrels of beer produced, up 3 percent since 2017.

6,480: jobs, a 3 percent rise over 2017.

155: independent craft breweries. (Add satellite tasting rooms and the number jumps to 202.)

To put this in perspective, in 2018 local breweries out-earned the combined incomes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West, the Eagles, Ed Sheeran, Kylie Jenner and soccer great Lionel Messi.

“We’d like civic leaders, trade organizations, economic development councils, the San Diego Tourism Authority and others to think about these things,” said Todd Colburn, a guild board member and Cal State San Marcos adjunct faculty member. “That they think, ‘Wow, breweries really do have a significant impact on San Diego County.’ The money stays here, it employs a lot of people and gives money to local charities.”

Craft Beer Eat | Drink

Peter Rowe

Peter is a freelance writer who writes about beer in his bimonthly column Brewery Rowe for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1984 to 2020. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 “Jeopardy!” loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons.