Avery Brewing Hosts Senator Mark Udall–Cutting Federal Excise Tax?

BOULDER – Sen. Mark Udall (D – Colorado) wants to cut the federal excise tax on beer in half, and he took a tour of Boulder breweries to drum up support for his plan.

The tax cut won’t save you much on the next beer you buy. It only amounts to about 1.5 cents per pint.

The hope is that the tax break would stimulate job growth in the booming craft brewing sector.

While the Great Recession took a toll on many businesses, Colorado’s craft brewers kept growing. Many report more than 30 percent growth each of the last few years.

People may not have enough money to treat themselves to new cars, but "beer is an affordable luxury," says Brian Dunn, owner of Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver.

The basic unit of beer in a brewery is the barrel, which is 31 gallons or two standard-size kegs.

Commercial brewers pay a federal excise tax of $18 per barrel. Small brewers get a discounted rate of $7 for the first 60,000 barrels they brew.

That is the number of barrels that Breckenridge Brewing Company in Denver expects to make this year. The tax break would give the company $210,000 extra to spend.

Great Divide would save $126,000 this year and Dunn says he would use that money to hire people.

"We right now need to hire a couple people," said Dunn. "But we’re looking at the numbers and it’s like ‘we need them but can we afford to pay for them?’"