The Craft Beer Battle

With 6,400 attendees, last month's Craft Brewers Conference and Beer Expo, hosted in the nations capital Washington D.C., highlighted some positive and negative notes about the craft beer industry. Representatives from The Brewers Association, a Boulder, Colorado based trade group that represents more than 2,300 small breweries, spoke at large about the craft industries accomplishments and concerns. The Brewers Association director Paul Gartza and chief operating officer Bob Pease listed a few of the highlights:

• U.S. craft brewing saw a 15 percent increase in volume in 2012.
• Craft Beer exports rose 72 percent over 2011.
• Craft brewing's market share rose from 5.7 percent (2011) to 6.5 percent (2012)
• There are 1,254 small breweries planned.
• Colorado saw 29 small breweries opened in 2012, second only to California with 56.

Gatza went on to say "The large brewers and imports were level, so it looks like we are going to have another good year. Brewers are running the numbers, we're seeing more brewers starting to look at what they can do for building a second brewery. We may see more second and third breweries." For example, two Colorado breweries, Oskar Blues and New Belgium, are expanding to North Carolina. San Diego's own Stone Brewery is opening up a small batch brewery at Liberty Station. 

Craft brewers produced 13.23 million barrels last year, a huge increase and a ton of great beer, but dwarfed by the industry giant ABInbev (Budweiser and other brands), which produced 98.5 million barrels just in the United States.

Rising taxes on brewing is the newest battle craft brewers are fighting. Small brewers, who make less than 2 million barrels a year, pay a 7$ tax on their first 60,000 barrels. While in D.C., representatives of small breweries lobbied for the small brew act, which would cut their tax to 3.50$ on the first 60,000 barrels. However, big breweries are fighting the bill and proposing their own bill that would raise the tax to 18$ for every barrel brewed, which would have a devastating effect on the American craft brew industry. This is yet another example of how the big beer companies, ABInbev (Budweiser and other brands), are trying to end the craft brew industry. 

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