I’ve written several times about the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act, or the Small BREW Act, and its potential effect on the craft beer industry in North Carolina. In short, the Act

would reduce the excise tax rate of small breweries in the United States on their first 60,000 barrels of beer by 50 percent (from $7 to $3.50 per barrel). For every barrel over 60,000 and up to 2 million, a new rate of $16 per barrel would be imposed, as opposed to the rate of $18 per barrel that currently applies even to breweries that produce over 100 million barrels. To qualify for the reduced and new tax rates, a brewery could not produce greater than 6 million barrels per year.

All 52 craft breweries that are members of the N.C. Brewers Guild, a nonprofit trade organization of brewers, vendors, retailers and craft beer enthusiasts, would qualify under the proposed bill.

And its impact should it be signed into law?

Nationwide, the bill would help approximately 1,525 breweries save around $19.9 million per year to expand and generate jobs, according to Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, who helped draft the Senate version of the bill.
….
These tax savings would further stimulate the craft beer industry in North Carolina by allowing these small, local, start-up breweries to allocate more money toward purchasing state-grown ingredients, creating new jobs and offering health insurance and other benefits for existing employees.

[Read the rest of my op-ed published in the News & Observer to find out more about why the Small BREW Act is a good thing for the beer community in the state.]

North Carolina has two Senators and thirteen Representatives in Congress. I strongly encourage you to contact the legislators below and either thank them for their continued support of North Carolina beer or urge them to support the state’s brewing industry by sponsoring the Small BREW Act. To find out which legislators represent you, check out this map.

Here is a breakdown of where each federal legislator from North Carolina currently stands on the Small BREW Act: