Sam Adams outgrowing the craft beer world
By Noah Davis • May 27th, 2009 • Category: Beer Companies
We’re a couple days late, but the Washington Post has a story detailing how Boston Beer Co. — brewers of Samuel Adams — is about to outgrow the craft beer distinction, at least in the eyes of the IRS.
See, the Brewers Association defines craft breweries as those that produce less than 2 million barrels per year. Boston Beer shipped 1.992 million during 2008 and could cross the threshold in 2009 (and certainly by 2010).
The distinction won’t change much for the company founded by Jim Koch — on the first 60,000 barrels shipped, it will have to pay a tax of $18 per barrel instead of $7 — but the Brewers Association will be forced to alter some of its statistics, as beers sold by Boston Beer currently account for 23 percent of the craft beer market. “When that day comes, you’re going to see a lot of asterisks in our statistics,” BA’s director, Paul Gatza, says.
Koch doesn’t seem perturbed. “I don’t think the IRS should be determining what craft beer is,” he says.
(Hat tip: The 2 Beer Guys Beer Blog.)
