CALGARY, AB – Edmonton-based beer blog OnBeer reports that a government lobbying group formed by most of Alberta’s craft breweries has quietly launched a website to bring its “support local” message to beer drinkers in the province.
Created last year in response to a review of beer taxation rates in Alberta, the Alberta Small Brewers Association (ASBA) has been advocating for a lower tax bracket for breweries that produce all of their beer in-province, as well as a graduated mark-up that will allow smaller breweries to pay a lower rate than larger ones.
On the recently launched website, the group – which includes Alley Kat, Big Rock, Brew Brothers, Brewsters, Drummond, Hog’s Head, Ribstone Creek, Grizzly Paw, Village, Wild Rose and Yellowhead in its membership – reminds Albertans that buying beer from local breweries will keep money in the province, create jobs, support other businesses that supply the breweries, and help the local breweries to grow and expand.
Notably absent from the members list is Minhas, an Alberta-based company that does have a small brewery in Calgary, but which produces most of its beer in a larger facility in Wisconsin while still receiving tax breaks similar to 100% Alberta-based breweries, a situation that has been questioned in the past, and which the ASBA advocates against.