(Press Release)

BOULDER, CO—Recently, bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress to promote small brewery job creation. Supported by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers, the Small BREW Act seeks to recalibrate the federal beer excise tax that small brewers pay on the beer they produce.

Today, alternative excise tax legislation, entitled the BEER Act, was introduced in the House. Bob Pease, CEO of the Brewers Association, issued the following statement on the BEER Act:

“While the Brewers Association supports lowering excise taxes for small brewers, the BEER Act is not the way to do it. There are several problematic issues with this legislation including cost to the country, job creation and fairness.

“The BEER Act gives further tax advantages to multinational brewing companies that not only already pay lower rates than purely domestic brewers, but also have cut thousands of U.S. jobs in the past six years and export and shelter their U.S. profits.

“We stand firmly rooted in our support for the Small BREW Act, fair legislation that will allow small brewers to remain competitive in the marketplace, reinvest in their businesses, reinvigorate local economies and continue their role in rejuvenating the job market in the U.S.”

An infographic showing a comparison of the Small BREW Act and BEER Act is available for download.

About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®Great American Beer Festival®Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA National Homebrewers Conference, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today’s craft brewers and homebrewers.

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.

The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.