PORTSMOUTH A permanent reduction in the federal excise tax on craft beer production means less money for the U.S. government and more money for local brewers as they climb out of the economic dregs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This relief allows us to thrive as opposed to creating a situation especially in times like these when everybody is hurting where your margins get dwindled down to nothing,” said Dagan Migirditch, co-founder of Liars Bench Beer and Bodega on Islington Street in Portsmouth’s West End. “It’s definitely a huge step in the right direction.”
The excise tax in question applies to small craft brewers who produce fewer than 2,500 barrels of beer per year. The tax, paid quarterly, had been $7 and was cut in half to $3.50 during the belt-tightening of the pandemic to reduce expenses for small craft brewers, who like others in the hospitality industry have been hard hit by health and safety protocols.