NEWS

Congress passes Craft Beverage Tax Reform

Today, December 20th, 2017, marked the passing of some of the largest tax legislation in the last thirty years.  While this huge bill covered a wide range of tax reform, included in the new set of laws was the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, which effectively cut federal excise tax in half for small brewers.  Currently, the federal tax rate for malt beverages is $7 per brewer’s barrel (bbl) for the first 60,000 bbls produced by breweries that make less than 2 million bbls per year (long explanation, right?).  Once singed into law by the president, this act will reduce that tax to $3.50/bbl under the same conditions (starting January 1, 2018).

This is a huge win for the Brewers Association, the trade organization that represents over 4,000 members made up of small, independent American craft brewers.  By their estimation, this will generate $142 million dollars in annual savings for craft breweries.  That’s a pretty big number!  We just hope that means there’s that much more tasty beer to go around.

For more details, check out what the Brewers Association is saying about it.

Introducing the new High End initiative.

AB/InBev just announced yesterday the launch of a new initiative for the breweries that fall under The High End division of the company:  Elevate.

While the overall goal of Elevate is to promote a better future for the beer industry as a whole, here’s a snapshot of what they hope to accomplish with Elevate in 2018:

  • All of our beers will shift to “best consumed by” date coding so consumers can easily identify when their beer will taste the freshest.
  • Each craft partner will receive solar panels to help power their facilities and by 2020, the craft partners will shift to 100% solar and wind renewable electricity while reducing water usage by 20%.
  • Our craft partners will collectively give back $2 million to local community organizations of their choice.
  • We will Elevate our education programs and help teach our industry about the importance of proper glassware and presentation, and the huge potential of beer + food experiences to drive growth.
  • Each craft partner will host open-door quality assurance and safety seminars for craft breweries in our communities to make our industry safer and better.

We’re pretty excited to see this develop.  For more information, click the link above to check out the Elevate website.

 

Our New Partner in Exceptional Service!

We at Harris Beverages are happy to announce that we’ve partnered with locally-based Crafty Beer Guys!  This partnership means that Crafty Beer Guys will visit our draft retail partners on a bi-weekly basis, performing routine cleanings with their highly regarded expertise and equipment.  Just another example of The Harris Difference in service and quality.

This also means that we and our retail partners will have access to their unbeatable expertise in draft systems and maintenance.  Crafty Beer Guys does everything from draft installations to on-the-spot repairs, with a team of experts who are top notch in the field.  For more details on our partnership check out the release below, and for more information on the range of services CBG provides check out their website.

Harris-CBG Partnership Announcement

NC Rare & Vintage Tasting

We’re more than excited to partner again with the North Carolina Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting on January 27th, 2018!

Each year, this event raises funds for Pints For Prostates, a charity that promotes awareness of prostate cancer, its risks, and the importance of early screenings for it.  Plus, there are some darn tasty beers to be had!

This year’s event will feature six of our partner breweries – Alpine Beer Company, Appalachian Mountain Brewing, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Green Flash Brewing Company, O’Connor Brewing Company, and Southern Tier Brewing Company – bringing some of the funnest and rarest beers they’ve ever made.  We’re salivating already!!

To see more about the event, check out the website here: NC Rare & Vintage.

And if you’re curious about any of our partners involved, take a look: