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DENVER — A battle is brewing in Colorado over where you should be able to purchase full-strength beer and wine, and now one side is touting a new study that appears to back up their claims.

Next year voters will likely see a ballot measure asking whether grocery stores should be allowed to sell beer and wine in addition to liquor stores, and the group pushing for it has funded a study which appears to show how it could benefit consumers, grocery stores, craft breweries and the Colorado economy in general.

The study, conducted by the University of Denver’s Miller Chair of Applied Economics, Jack Strauss, found that allowing beer and wine sales at grocery stores and big box retailers could add 16,000 to 17,000 jobs, add $125 Million to Colorado Craft Beer Sales and lead prices of beer and wine to drop by 18 percent.

“How do we know that?” Strauss said. “Well, Seattle for instance, St. Louis, have much lower alcohol prices than Denver. The state of Washington has much lower alcohol prices than Colorado and the reason why is increased competition.”

But not everyone believes the numbers.

“My first response was that it was either paid for by Kroger, Safeway or Walmart; authored in the creative writing department; or both,” said Curtis Hubbard, spokesperson for Keep Colorado Local, which opposes the law change.

Hubbard is right about one point. The study was funded by Your Choice Colorado, which is funding the ballot push and represents the large grocery chains.

Hubbard says Colorado’s craft breweries have also come together to oppose the proposal because they don’t believe they’ll see a positive impact. He says small brewers rely on relationships with independent liquor stores, especially when they start out. Though he admits grocery stores might carry craft brews, he believes they would favor the larger producers and distributors.

“I’m not sure where he’s getting his data but it doesn’t match with what we’ve seen,” Hubbard said.

Despite the criticism about funding, Strauss says he was not influenced at all during his study. He also says his numbers don’t lie.

“The one thing we teach our undergrads is that competition helps consumers, and right now we don’t have competition for alcohol sales,” Strauss said.