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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sam-adams-is-about-to-be-kicked-out-of-the-craft-beer-category-2015-06-25 [marketwatch.com]

Good news, beer drinkers. U.S. federal taxes on beer could be going down soon [marketwatch.com], especially for small "craft" breweries. But certain bigger "craft" breweries could see less benefit:

For years, the Brewers Association craft beer industry group offered its definition of a craft brewer, using metrics like barrels of production, percentage of a brewery owned by a non-craft brewer and more "traditional" aspects. However, it changed its barrel-production limit from 2 million to 6 million in 2010 to accommodate the growth of Boston Beer Co. and its Samuel Adams brand. And the trade group changed the "traditional" portion of its definition last year to include pre-prohibition brewers including D.G. Yuengling & Son and August Schell, which have brewed with maize (once deemed non-traditional by BA) throughout their existence.

However, on June 11, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (S. 1562) that would not only cut excise taxes imposed on brewers, but would finally settle who's a craft brewer and who isn't. The text of that bill hasn't been released yet, but the folks at the Beer Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based beer industry lobbying group, spelled out three of its key effects [beerinstitute.org].

1. It reduces the federal beer excise tax to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced by domestic brewers producing fewer than 2 million barrels annually.

2. It cuts that same tax to $16 per barrel on the first 6 million barrels for all other brewers and all beer importers.

3. It maintains the current $18-per-barrel excise tax for any barrels beyond 6 million.

[...] That distinction is incredibly important, considering that Boston Beer's production in 2009 was roughly half of its 2014 total. That's an average of more than 20% growth each year. If that rate of growth continues, Boston Beer will be over the 6 million bar in less than three years and, for tax purposes, would be considered a macro. [...] Bemoaning the eventual departure of Samuel Adams from the craft club misses the bigger point of this bill. Craft beer didn't need a tax break. The number of breweries in the U.S. has grown steadily from 1,447 in 2005 to more than 3,400 today. Craft beer, meanwhile, has grabbed an 11% share of the beer market by volume and a more than 19% share of that same market in dollars. It's a nearly $20 billion industry that's grown by double-digit percentage points for the past decade.

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