A national trade association is out with a report on the impact of beer in Iowa. The Beer Institute reports the adult beverage generates more than 42-thousand jobs in the Hawkeye State which pay a total of 719-million dollars in wages. That includes people involved in agriculture and and the delivery of beer.That’s Jeff Becker, president of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Beer Institute. He says the beer industry generates 121-million dollars a year in state and local taxes in Iowa. He calls the amber-colored fluid “America’s beverage” and may change the perception some of us have of our history. He says the Pilgrims landed in America because they ran out of beer.Given all that’s happened with the tobacco industry in recent years, some think alcoholic beverages may be the next multi-billion dollar lawsuit target. Becker predicts the beer industry will not be singled out by the corporate lawyers. He says the industry was legislated out of existence with prohibition and the industry has taken steps to see that doesn’t happend again.There are 11 beer brewers in Iowa, 64 beer wholesalers and eight-thousand retailers. While the common beer ingredient “hops” can’t grow in the Iowa climate, Becker says many other important grains, like barley and wheat, come from Iowa.
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