Event raises glass to state's craft beer industry.

Beer, as Benjamin Franklin is purported to have said, is further proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

It is also becoming an increasingly popular way to stimulate investment in communities and driving the exponential growth of a state industry.

EngenuitySC, a nonprofit organization that fosters entrepreneurship, celebrated such newfound hoppiness with Thursday night's Breweries: Community Catalysts event at Steel Hands Brewing. The feel-good gathering, part of the organization's Competitiveness Week, highlighted the contributions the 10,000-square-foot brewery has made to the Cayce community since opening last December.

"Breweries are economic development engines," Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said. "When we looked at what the city wanted, we wanted a brewery to drive traffic and to be a place for our residents to gather."

The 2018 Midlands Competitiveness Report, an annual measure of how Columbia and the Midlands compare to similar areas in five economic indicators, emphasized the region's strong entrepreneurial environment as one of its competitive edges. The report was released Monday, and enthusiasm ran high Thursday night, no doubt spurred by the beer tokens EngenuitySC distributed to cover the first 100 pints served.

But numbers as well as suds stoked the atmosphere. Brook Bristow, owner and managing attorney at Bristow Beverage Law and the executive director of the S.C. Brewers' Guild, rattled off statistics worth toasting: The state's burgeoning beer industry had an economic impact of $780 million in 2018, Bristow said, and produced 4,500 jobs directly attributable to craft beer. South Carolina produced 108,000 barrels of beer, 34th-best in the country, he said.

"For a state our size, that's really impressive," Bristow said.

Since 2013, when South Carolina passed the "pint law" allowing breweries to sell on-premise pints, brewery openings have increased 583%, he said, far above the national average of 300%.

"It's a lot in five years," Bristow said. "We're on a rocket ship to the moon."

That rocket ship is taking passengers on its journey. Steel Hands owner Scott Lambert said that the brewery has invested $4.5 million in Cayce and created 26 jobs since its opening.

Lambert credited Cayce civic leaders with understanding the potential for the 30-barrel brewhouse, which also includes a 2,500-square-foot tap room and an outdoor space.

"They saw the vision of Steel Hands," Lambert said.

The brewery has returned the love in other...