Stamp Acts, Townsend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts…

…Craft Beer Acts?

We (read, this author) tend to give a sizable amount of grief to the brewers of a certain beer that claim to be based in JP. This time, it’s in the department of lobbying. Jim Koch and Boston Beer Company are currently working up a storm in their support of legislation right now that would expand the definition of what size brewers would enjoy relief on craft brewing taxes, moving from those who make under 2 million barrels each year to 6 million (Boston Beer Company makes about 2.7m). Fundamentally, the effort is to up the quantity that can be brewed while still allowing a brewery to own both the ability to call itself “Craft” and retain financial benefits of being a smaller-scale brewer.

The Globe article notes that the motives are pretty clear:

A key component of the public-relations and lobbying campaign has been to make sure that Sam Adams — despite its considerable size, with 1 percent of the American beer market — is still viewed by the public, politicians, and even the craft-brewing industry as a “craft beer’’ manufacturer.