Today, don't forget to thank your local brewster!

Today, don't forget to thank your local brewster or brewer.

☞ According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 59,000 people work in breweries across the United States.

☞ The [U.S.] Brewers Association —using different methodology— finds 135,072 brewsters and brewers (and brewery and brewpub employees) working at the 6,372 "small and independent" breweries across the country.

☞ And, according to the Beer Institute —compiling data that include everyone associated with the U.S. brewing industry, directly and indirectly— the beer industry employs nearly 2.23 million Americans ...

... many of whom are working today, Labor Day, to provide your daily beer. Yeast never sleeps.

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• This post originally appeared on Instagram.
• Labor Day may be our national tribute to the contributions of American workers, but it's also the nation's top beer-drinking weekend, maybe fittingly so. Memorial Day in second. The Super Bowl, in comparison, came in at the seventh spot.
• There is an 'apples and oranges' aspect to these data and somewhat of a lack of timeline consistency, but, all in all, they create a representative snapshot.
• Taking the photo above, I asked the brewer at Ten10 Brewing (in Orlando, Florida), why, on a hot, humid, summer afternoon, he wasn't digging out the hot, sticky mash with a shovel. "I prefer pulling it by hand," he told me. More power to him!


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