ASHEVILLE - While beer-making might have a reputation as a laidback pursuit, a recent study attempts to quantify just how much breweries play power positions in the local economy.

Brewing contributed nearly $1 billion in overall output to the Asheville area in 2016, according to a contribution analysis of the brewery industry released by the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County.

The EDC's analysis considered the Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties, and was sponsored by McGuire, Wood and Bissette Law Firm.

The data said breweries added more than 600 direct jobs from 2011 through 2016, a growth rate of 754 percent.

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Breweries directly or indirectly added $111 million in labor income to the region last year, creating or supporting more than 2,500 jobs. That's the fastest growth among regional manufacturing industries, according to the EDC.

"Beer is such a job creator here," said Chris Frosaker, co-owner of Hi-Wire Brewing, which has 34 people on its payroll, including eight salespeople.

Frosaker, with Adam Charnack, opened his first 3,500-square-foot brewery in 2013. Hi-Wire's flagship South Slope facility had two employees on the production side, and three more pouring beer in the taproom.

The brewery has since added the Big Top taproom and production facility, a 27,000-square-foot space in Biltmore Village handling distribution and the lion's share of brewing operations.

Hi-Wire is on track to turn out 50 beer styles this year. It should sell 16,000 barrels, up from 1,500 barrels in the first year and four year-round brews.

"We've grown quite a bit," Frosaker said. And so has the rest of the Asheville area industry, he added. "We've all grown, and are selling more beer, and making a better product. The industry has just matured, and it's exciting to see."

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In the time since Kendra Penland became the executive director of the Asheville Brewers Alliance in late 2015, the group has more than doubled in membership — from 32 member breweries to 68, with the majority of the growth coming from the Asheville metro area. Counting associate members such as retailers, wholesalers and industry associates, the ABA now boasts 180 members.

Penland said a number of factors have bolstered Asheville's reputation among the international brewing community, bringing a talented pool of brewers and other industry players into the city.

Those include a creative, entrepreneurial community and an abundance of nearby natural resources, not the least of which water that happens to be excellent for brewing beer.

"From an industry perspective, one of the things that's most critical and vital is that, to make great beer, you need great water," Penland said. "And we have one of the best water systems in the country from a quality standpoint."

In the brewing industry, it's difficult and expensive to remove minerals from a municipal water source. “We’re already starting with neutral water, and when that’s 96 percent of your beer, that’s pretty vital."

Also vital to the beer industry's upward mobility and subsequent job growth has been the quick transformation of several metro area neighborhoods into craft beer and food destinations.

Neighborhoods like the South Slope, which boasts breweries Catawba, Hi-Wire and Burial Beer, all with multiple locations in the works or already open.

That's been an area-wide trend, noted Penland. “Several of those existing breweries, even the young ones, underwent significant, multimillion dollar expansions,” she said.

In the beer industry, growth can come in multiple forms, including distribution, she added. "It's common practice for our breweries to look pretty quickly to distribution in other states.”

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That manifests in a drinkable calling card, and helps lend cachet to the local craft beer community. People who know about craft beer now know about Asheville, Penland said.

"There are more folks who know about us with every passing year, and that brings people to visit and to live and work here.”

That seems to bear out in the EDC's report, which Frosaker called "exciting."

"It makes me proud to be a part of the beer scene in Asheville," he said. "Those good, solid numbers prove beer is an overall force for good in our town."

Asheville Breweries by the numbers in 2016:

Total brewery production was estimated to contribute $934 million locally, including income.

2,571 brewing industry-related jobs generated $111 million in local labor income.

Brewing-related companies contributed $365 million to the gross regional

product.

Transactions such as taxes on production and corporate profits contributed an estimated $205 million in state, local, and federal tax revenues.

In the Asheville metro market, breweries ranked among the top five industries by employment, among wholesale trade, other crop farming, truck transportation and hospitality.

Average earnings per direct job in the brewery industry were $55,000 in 2016.