Silver City, NM - Today, Governor Susana Martinez and Economic Development Secretary announced the expansion of Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery in Silver City. The expansion will result in 11 production jobs.

"New Mexico continues to improve its business environment, which helps local manufacturers like Little Toad Creek expand and create new jobs," Secretary Barela said. "Governor Martinez and I congratulate Little Toad Creek as they partner with the state to diversify and grow the economy."

Little Toad Creek will receive $100,000 in Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) funds from the state's Economic Development Department to help renovate a warehouse in downtown Silver City for their new distillery and brewery.

Since taking office, Governor Martinez continues to make it a priority to diversify New Mexico's economy and make it more competitive with neighboring states. The Governor has enacted various reforms, including instituting a single-sales factor for manufacturing, curbing tax pyramiding that often resulted in the double or triple taxation of goods, reducing the business tax rate by 22 percent, and establishing independent hearing officers in New Mexico's tax department to help businesses get a fair shake. Following the Governor's reforms, renowned professional services firm Ernst & Young recognized New Mexico as the best state in the west for manufacturing, up from third worst in the region before the Governor took office.

Over the summer, New Mexico made a big leap in CNBC's "America's Top States for Businesses" rankings, jumping from 37th to 24th in the country, an increase of 13 spots, which is tied for the best improvement in the nation. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New Mexico is also the national leader in export-related job growth, with three of the state's metro areas ranked in the top five nationally as well. Additionally, more New Mexico businesses are exporting more of their goods to more places than ever before, with New Mexico shattering export records in 2014 at nearly $4 billion, and doubling exports to Mexico in just one year's time.

Little Toad Creek LLC was formed by husband-and-wife team David Crosley and Teresa Dahl-Bredine in 2012 to operate an inn, restaurant and tavern in the rural community of Lake Roberts, New Mexico. Little Toad Creek opened a tasting room in downtown Silver City, and quickly their small production plant could not keep up with demand. In its first year of operating the downtown tasting room, beer production tripled.

"We were raised in New Mexico and have a passionate commitment to New Mexico and New Mexicans so that is why we are thrilled the state is able to help small businesses like ours grow by offsetting the cost of critical infrastructure needs," said owner Teresa Dahl-Bredine. "After a successful first season of operating, we realized we were able to sell our product not just in New Mexico but beyond."

The project will create six new production jobs in the first year, and five additional production positions by the second year. Additionally, several other jobs will be created in the sales and service portion of the business.