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It鈥檚 a hoppy time to be alive, especially if you occasionally treat yourself to a large pint of craft beer.

According to the Brewers Association, the craft beer industry saw a five percent increase in 2017 and the state of Arizona saw an increase of 49 craft breweries between 2013 and 2017.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e a growing beer state,鈥� said Rob Fullmer, executive director of the. 鈥淎rizonans have really tried to get unique Arizona grown ingredients into their products. So, there is something that we鈥檙e able to do here that you鈥檙e not able to do in many other places.鈥澛�

With 96 craft breweries, Arizona ranks 19th in the country for the number of craft breweries statewide, making a total economic impact of $1 billion.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of jobs that get made from the beer industry. It鈥檚 a huge, huge job maker鈥� said Tristan White, co-founder and manager.

鈥淏rewers are manufacturers, retailers, distributors,鈥� Fullmer said. 鈥淒elivery drivers, merchandisers. Then you think about the places with retail beer 鈥� whether they鈥檙e bars, restaurants, hotels 鈥� you can see how that adds up.鈥�

Another part of the economy that craft beer impacts is the tourism industry.

鈥淲hen people do travel, they want local products. They want to feel like they鈥檙e not in the same place they were,鈥� Rob said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been to Peru, but I go into the gift stores [there] and I see the same things I can see in a gift store here. Beer is an authentic product that has shelf life.鈥�

Overall, with state lodging seeing a 6.4 percent increase in tourism-related gross sales from June 2017 to June 2018 according to the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT).

鈥淭he emerging craft beer scene has definitely increased tourism by providing more unique dining and craft beer options,鈥� said co-owners Jonathan Buford and Patrick Ware. 鈥淸It] provides a niche market for consumers to explore. We truly incorporate Arizona in our food, beer and atmosphere allowing the guests to get the true feeling of Arizona when visiting from all over the world.鈥�

According to Rob, business travelers who often do not have the opportunity to go to breweries will ask for Arizona products at their hotels, to a point where most hotels now specialize in local beers.

The AOT reported that restaurant/bar, retail and amusement gross sales experienced an average 6.07 percent increase from June 2017 to June 2018.

In Flagstaff, the local breweries have partnered with the Convention & Visitors Bureau and Flagstaff Visitor Center to create and encourage tourists to explore the town鈥檚 local beer scene.

The trail allows visitors to pick up a passport at the bureau or visitor center and then travel to all seven Flagstaff breweries, collecting a stamp at each even if they did not purchase anything. When they have all seven stamps, the visitor receives a souvenir pint glass.

鈥淚 hear from [tourists] that they always visit breweries in the cities they go to or that sometimes they go to cities that are known to have breweries,鈥�鈥檚 Operations Manager Oliver Adams said. 鈥淸The trail鈥檚] an active effort to drive traffic to the city and highlight all of these awesome breweries we have.鈥�

So, why an increase in the craft beer industry?

鈥淏eer is something that far exceeds most other beverages,鈥� Dennis Gable, brand manager,, said. 鈥淏eer has always been brewed for a very long time [but] it hasn鈥檛 always been quite like this. Now, we get to drink it at a very high quality and with ingredients that nobody ever dreamed of.鈥�

The start of the industry鈥檚 growth can be partially attributed to Governor Doug Ducey signing what is known as the 鈥淏eer Bill鈥� in 2015. 聽

The bill allows brewers to produce a maximum of 200,000 barrels a year cumulatively across all their locations. Previously, brewers could only produce 40,000 barrels per year at each other locations.

Once that number was reached, a brewery would be labeled an 鈥渋n-state-producer,鈥� forcing them to divest itself of additional locations.

鈥淸It] helped by eliminating a cap to our production, allowing us to brew a wide variety of styles and batch sizes,鈥� Jonathan and Patrick said.

鈥淚t allowed smaller breweries that were getting larger to not have to worry about opening up outside retail outlets,鈥� said Andy Ingram, co-founder and brewer. 鈥淲hy punish someone for being successful?鈥�

A companion piece to the bill allowed breweries under a microbrewery license to sell other brewery鈥檚 beer, this created collaboration between breweries and also allowed new breweries to open a space and sell other鈥檚 beer while waiting for federal permitting on their beer.

鈥淸It] contributed to collaborations for fun reasons [and] for charitable reasons,鈥� Rob said. 鈥淲e have a women鈥檚 collaboration bureau. It [is] all women in the industry who wanted to network and wanted to raise money for women shelters.鈥�

But more than anything, the state law changes put the industry on the map.

鈥淚t really kind of put beer in the media. It gave us something to talk about, to get people excited about,鈥� Tristan said. 鈥淚t put us on the map.鈥�

鈥淚t also help[ed] establish the craft brewing community, and the guild in particular, as a real player down at the capitol,鈥� Andy said.

Oliver attributes the growth to the recent 鈥済o local鈥� movement.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen this eat local, local meats or local produce, local products, shop local,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 all this dialogue around local [things] and craft beer certainly falls into that [but] I think it started because there wasn鈥檛 a huge variety of beer.鈥�

While Arizona is still a little behind in terms of the number of breweries, big players in other cities are noticing the growing industry.

Latitude 33, a brewery from San Diego, California, recently announced its plan to expand into Arizona.

鈥�Arizona has some killer breweries and from my understanding is really starting to hit a new level of adoption,鈥� said Latitude 33 CEO Mike Ingram. 鈥淏eing our neighbor鈥攁lso along the 33rd parallel鈥攖here seems to be a great deal of alignment between Southern California and Arizona customer preferences. We鈥檙e simply following demand.鈥�

However, overwhelmingly all brewers said what drew them to brewing 鈥� besides the ability to drink beer for a job 鈥� is the inclusiveness of the industry.

鈥淵our work is such a big part of your life and you should really enjoy what you do,鈥� Oliver said. 鈥淏eer is one of those really, really special products to create and sell. It serves a really interesting purpose in society and in lives and in communities.鈥�

鈥淓verybody鈥檚 friendly, everybody kind of works together. It鈥檚 about drinking beer together and hanging out. It鈥檚 fun,鈥� Tristan said.

鈥淲hen you get people like-minded together, who are interested in creating things, whether it be creating something new or just creating something really delicious. That kind of creative energy is really magnetizing,鈥� Dennis said.

And the inclusiveness of the industry extends to its customers.

鈥淐raft breweries create a new sense of community that allows local consumers to seek a new venue that interests a wide variety of demographics,鈥� Patrick and Jonathan said.

鈥淏rew-pubs help bring communities together, they鈥檙e that third space that a lot of people are looking for. You have [your] home and work and then people have that third space; brew-pubs and breweries fill that role,鈥� Andy said.

Arizona Beer Week will be back for its ninth year from Feb. 7 to 16

There will be more than 200 events across the state including the on the 9th at Steele Indian School Park. 聽

鈥淏eer, even if it鈥檚 made in a factory, it鈥檚 a social beverage. It brings people out and I think we鈥檙e successful because we鈥檙e a growing state and I think people really want to connect,鈥� Rob said. 鈥淎rizona beer does that.鈥�

For a list of all the beer week events, click .