Oregon Booze Scene Making Beaver State An Economic, Job Creating Powerhouse

Oregon, where The Whiskey Wash is published from, is an alcoholic, economic powerhouse. Now when I say this I don’t mean we are all a bunch of alcoholics spending lots of money on booze, but rather the fact the so-called “alcohol cluster” of businesses in the state, including distilleries, look to be one of the runaway stories of successful job creation compared not only to other statewide employment sectors, but also to other states in general.

This new data, recently revealed by Oregon’s Office of Economic Analysis, highlights that, since the start of 2008, new jobs falling into this cluster have increased 46 percent, or around 5,200 jobs. It isn’t clear exactly along what lines those jobs breakdown (i.e. server at a brewpub versus whiskey distiller), given the sector includes “breweries, wineries, distilleries and their distributors and retail outlets,” but what is interesting to note is this number may actually be underestimated given some breweries/brewpubs are classified instead as restaurants and thus tracked differently.

To put all of this in another perspective, Oregon is typically at an under 1.5 percent share margin of the total when compared to other states on many things such as population, according to state government officials. This jumps however for the alcohol cluster, putting the Beaver State at 2 percent of total, which is quite large compared not only to other rankings, but also when put up against being relative to other states.

This all makes total sense when you consider that not only does Oregon have one of the most vibrant distillery scenes in the country, but also the fact its largest city, Portland, has the largest number of breweries, and always growing, of any city in the world.

h/t OPB