Thursday, July 29, 2010

Rep. Baron Hill belongs to the House Small Brewers Caucus. He is encouraged to support H.R. 4278, too.

I may have written this previously, but if not: Alone among Indiana's delegation in the House of Representatives, Baron Hill (9th district) has signed on as a member of the House Small Brewers Caucus.

Thanks to Rep. Hill for doing so.

However, not one Indiana member of the House has yet declared co-sponsorship of H.R. 4278 (excise tax reduction legislation).


H.R. 4278 is the result of months of intensive effort on the part of Representatives Richard Neal (Massachusetts, 2nd District) and Kevin Brady (Texas, 8th District), individual Brewers Association (BA) member breweries and BA staff to ensure American small brewers are given the best chance to remain strong and competitive.
Representative John Yarmuth (Kentucky, 3rd District) recently climbed on board.

I encourage Rep. Hill to do so.

1 comment:

Jeff Gillenwater said...

Received this from AMIBA today:

"Beer Stimulus" Would Cut Taxes on Micro-Breweries

We’ll toast to bi-partisanship on this proposal to cut federal excise taxes in half (from $7 to $3.50 per barrel) on the first 60,000 barrels of beer brewed annually by a brewer. The original co-sponsors of the bill are Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID); John Kerry (D-MA); Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

On a related note, a recent Wall Street Journal report verified what AMIBA's staff in Bozeman already knew: Montana is the microbrewery king, leading all U.S. states in breweries per capita. Here's a nifty map summarizing data.

Drinking and Eating to Support Local Business

While we're talking beer, the Louisville Independent Business Alliance hosted their second annual Brewfest, a celebration of locally-crafted beers and brewers, as part of Independents Week. LIBA received excellent TV coverage, including the local Fox morning show reporting on-site for the week (no word on whether beer samples influenced their coverage). Local brews were enjoyed by more than 2000 attendees, outstripping the supply of commemorative mugs, and LIBA netted about $16,000 to advance its excellent work!

We'll work with LIBA and others to add a "how-to" document on running a successful microbrew festival to member resources shortly.