It has been reported that House Bill 1132, proposed to increase production for Indiana Breweries from 20,000 barrels to 30,000 has gone through the House on a vote of 84 -12. Right now in Indiana, there aren't any breweries currently producing over 20,000 barrels, but Three Floyds is projected to hit that number sometime around October. Sun King is projecting for that capacity in the near future. Their efforts have paid off, and that is a great thing for all of us in the state.
Unfortunately, the reporting from some news outlets have butchered the story a bit. They continue to refer to tax breaks as one of the reasons for the push to increase. THIS IS NOT TRUE. There are not breaks on higher production.
The increase in production simply allows the breweries to not only brew more, but to continue to operate their tasting rooms and brewpubs and continue to self-distribute their beers (if applicable). There are not tax breaks at higher production levels. The brewers pay tax on every beer they sell. It does not matter if they produce 20 or 20,000 barrels, and it won't matter if that limit is increased to 30,000.
You can read more about this bill and its history from Jason and Mike here and here.
Sure would be sweet if it DID mean tax breaks :)
ReplyDeleteThe question in my mind is why are these limits in place to begin with? Why should a brewery that produces 30,001 barrels not be able to run a tasting room or brewpub?
ReplyDelete@Erik
ReplyDeleteMoney, Money, Money.....MONEY!!!
Never underestimate the power of the 3 tier system lobbiest.
Nationally the number is 60K barrels, but in backwards Indiana blue laws and beer barrons its still 20K (until this passes).
For the record, World Class Beverages and Cavalier Distributing were both supportive of higher limits.
ReplyDeleteErik - it would appear to me that the laws were created to differentiate between a production brewery and a pub. At the time, 20,000 barrels probably seemed like a reasonable line.
ReplyDeleteWith the modern blurring of lines through the craft beer movement, it would seem that this distinction is no longer useful. It would make more sense to get rid of the law entirely than increase the limit by 10,000 barrels. Anyone who opposed the increase clearly is not very informed about the issue at hand. As Mike said, even the distributors supported it.
The distributors aren't/wouldn't be making money off 3F and sunking anyways... Especially in Indiana. Now if BudMillerCoors wanted to self distribute, then the distributors would start to panic. Especially in Indiana, they have like what, 95 percent of the market cornered?
ReplyDelete