Suds up. The beer industry contributes $6.7 billion annually to the New Jersey economy and supports 45,546 jobs in the state, according to a report by the Beer Institute and National Beer Wholesalers Association.

The business also generates $961.3 million in personal and business taxes and $267.3 million in excise taxes, according to the report.

“Over the last five years or so, you’ve seen a significant increase in the number of small brewers in New Jersey. That’s probably one of the single biggest ways [the beer industry helps the local economy], the growing number of small brewers,” said Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Beer Institute “The larger brewers have a big impact on the economy, too. You can’t go to Newark airport without passing that Anheuser Busch brewery down the street.”

New Jersey boasts 154 small brewers, said Union native McGreevy.

“In terms of economic impact, I’ve visited Cape May Brewery, and it has upwards of 100 people working there now. They’ve only been in business about 10 years. I’m often in New Jersey visiting my family and Little Dog Brewing in Neptune City has always got a good crowd in it on the weekends,” McGreevy said. “All that leads to about $2.4 billion in wages and $6.7 billion in economic impact for the state of New Jersey.”

The Beer Institute and the Alexandria, Va.-based NBWA have released their Beer Serves America report every other year for the past 14 years. The report serves to show policy makers and the general public that beer isn’t only fun to drink, but it has a significant economic footprint.

The report was released ahead of Memorial Day Weekend, one of the nation’s most popular beer drinking holidays.

“Nationwide 2.1 million Americans owe their livelihood one way to another to the production and distribution of beer and we think that’s pretty cool,” he said.