Brewnotes

Delegates Malone & DeBoy,

I would like to understand your position on House Bill 832.   I am concerned that this is an easy target to raise taxes without looking at the source of Maryland’s budget woes.   While I am not opposed to raising taxes, I take great exception to the following passage of the bill:

"Comptroller shall distribute the remaining alcoholic beverage tax revenue to the General Fund of the State".

If this bill was intended to raise funds for health concerns, why would any funds at all make it into the general fund? Beyond this, the rate of increases for the different beverage areas are astronomical.   My intelligence is being mocked when I’m told its $0.10/beer.  In actuality, the percentage increases are obnoxiously and ridiculously high:

MD proposed tax rates ($$/gal):

	beer	1.16  (1,288% increase)
	wine	2.96  (740% increase)
	spirits	10.03 (668% increase)

If the tax increase passes, our state alcohol beverage taxes will be four times the
national average for beer (highest in the nation; 2nd place Alaska at $1.07/gal), over three-and-half times the national average for wine (highest in the nation; 2nd place Alaska at $2.50/gal), and just shy of 50% higher than the national average for spirits (eleventh-highest in the nation; 1st place Washington state at $26.45/gal) [Source: the Jernigan paper referred to in the House bill preamble].  Please take into consideration the true impact of such a bill.  Any way you slice it, this bill is bad fiscal policy and doesn’t solve any aspect of the looming budget crisis.   The only true way to solve the budget crisis is to reduce spending.

Looking forward to your response,

Ben Brouse

Update #1: I added the link to the figures that were cited.

Update #2: Both Delegates responded that they were opposed to this bill.    I will be watching.

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Wine

A malt-focused beer with an initial sweetness and a roasted dryness in the finish.  My first hoorah into the Irish Red style (BJCP 9D).  Not really my favorite but I had to brew either this style or Scotch Ale for the CRABS March monthly competition.   Calling this the “Irish Uprising” due to the yeast tricking me.   Very slow to start due to some over chilling but once it got around 65F things really took off.   This recipe is originally taken from Jamil with a few minor tweaks.

Ingredients:

Hops:

Yeast:

Yield:

Stats:

Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Homebrew

Tom Wark writes the Fermentation blog.   In it, he describes the absolute mockery of testifying before a committee that isn’t going to do anything regardless of the testimony.  Yes, this is how democracy really works in Maryland.  Too bad it was regarding the proposed Direct Wine Shipping bill (HB 716)  that I’ve talked about so much before.  

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Wine

Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Wine

Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Wine

Thank you for contacting me concerning HB 832 – The Lorraine Sheehan Health and Community Services Act of 2010.

This bill is scheduled for a hearing on March 11, 2010 before the Ways and Means Committee.  There is no chance any tax bill will pass in FY 2011.
I appreciate hearing from you regarding this issue.

Very truly yours,

Delegate Frank S. Turner
House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman, Finance Resources Subcommittee
District 13 – Howard County
410-841-3246/301-858-3246
Fax:  410-841-3986
E-mail:  frank.turner@house.state.md.us
http://mlis.state.md.us/

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink

After a long hiatus, the house beer makes a triumphant return.   This batch will be a little higher in alcohol as compared to the last few as the efficiency seems to be around 75%.    This is a straight forward American Pale Ale.   A touch of caramel ending with citrus notes from the hops.    Originally derived from Abita’s Restoration Ale.   For those of you counting, this is batch #36 on the brew rig.

Brew session went well.   Looking forward to having this on tap again!

Ingredients:

Hops:

Yeast:

Yield:

Stats:

Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Homebrew

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Prelude

Interesting chatter over the last few days about a new alcohol tax bill in Maryland.   Over the past weeks I’ve outlined Maryland’s Wine Siege.    Now this gem.   Deceptively named the “The Lorraine Sheehan Health and Community Services Act of 2010”.     The house bill is here.  The senate version is here.

Synopsis:

Increasing the State tax rates for alcoholic beverages sold in Maryland from $1.50 to $10.03 per gallon for distilled spirits, from 40 cents to $2.96 per gallon for wine, and from 9 cents to $1.16 per gallon for beer; providing for the distribution of the additional revenue to special funds to be used only for the purpose of providing additional funding for specified health services; etc.

Brandon Miller-Millhouse summarized as following:

“A Maryland Brewery" Brews 40 Barrel batches
40 bbl = 1240 gallons presently taxed at $111.60
with bill passed that same single batch would be taxed $1,438

…So lets say a brewery right now sells a gallon of beer for $5 (just an example) this tax makes them to have to raise the price of their product to say $7.50-$8 per gallon. The Distributor has to mark it up to retain their profit margin ($10-$11)and the retailers have to mark it up retain their profit margin ($13-$15) and WE are left paying Stone Six-Pack Prices for everything…oh and I almost forgot the 6% MD sales tax.

BTW – Brandon reads this blog, so if you’d like to leave him feedback, do it here.  I won’t be handing out his email address.

Conclusion

Just another example of how clearly broken Maryland’s three-tier distribution system remains.  I completely understand wanting to raise the taxes to be more in-line with other states, but don’t provide that comparison to me regarding states that don’t have a bogus three-tier distribution system in place.   The reality is, the distributors don’t care because they are going to add their costs on regardless of what this bill does just as Brandon has previously outlined.

Opinions and comments welcome. 

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Wine

Last evening, I had the pleasure of trying Troegs Nugget Nectar on firkin.  A seasonal brew they describe as a Imperial Amber.   Coming in @ 7.5ABV and 93 IBU’s, this beer can be a real beast.

While the beer was OK, it wasn’t the experience I had hoped.    I don’t think it was cellared properly.   While you may think this isn’t too big of deal, the beer was as cloudy as many of the primary fermentations I’ve run and so active that they were pouring foam into pitchers, then into my glass.  The result – real ale with all the natural carbonation knocked out of solution.   

On the positive side, it was amazing how 93 IBU’s were masked in this beer.  It was extremely easy drinking and enjoyable outside of my other experience.

I hope my little story tells you how important a good cellar man is to real ale.   You can’t have one without the other.

Update #1  (2/19/2010 1pm):  This is not an attack on the place of business that served the firkin, I really enjoy the variety of beers served, the food and the staff.  In fact,  I purposely didn’t even mention their name because I didn’t want Google holding onto that forever.   I merely wanted to tell of my experience and elicit feedback and thought.    FWIW, I will continue to enjoy great beer at this great pub.  I am fascinated by real ale and will continue to seek it out.

Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink