Brewnotes

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/

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. 

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.

In this article, MD Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller cites “institutional inertia” regarding the city of Annapolis’ inability to remove snow.    He also says “This city is stuck in a time warp".  

I read both of these quotes and nearly landed on the floor laughing.   You do understand that institutional inertia is one of the very tactics that he utilizes to govern.    The fact that he won’t allow wine & beer to be shipped to Maryland is not only stuck in a time warp but also draconian and neo-prohibitionist.    Not allowing the bill to get out of committee when 106 out of 188 legislators support the bill is institutional inertia.

This article depicts the liquor lobby’s stranglehold on our elected officials:  “But Maryland’s liquor wholesalers won’t give an inch. Until now, neither have their (handsomely rewarded) champions in the legislature. “

Mr. Miller should begin choosing his words a little more wisely as he has become a hypocrite to cite institutional inertia as it is a tactic for which he is very familiar.

Please support Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws.   They have an on-line petition that I urge you to sign.    Yes – Maryland’s Wine Siege Continues.

When I head into a new pub or place I haven’t been in a while, I typically follow the following process:

1. Look at the tap handles – just the big boys (AB/SAB Miller/Coors)?   or someone who cares?
2. Look at the bottles they serve – same criteria as above
3. Does the place have a decent bartender? – you would be surprised at the number of places that ignore this.
4. If I’m still around – what’s the atmosphere, do I want to stay here?
5. Order a cheeseburger – if a pub can’t make a decent burger, you know the rest of the food stinks
6. Decide if I would visit this place again.

What process does everyone else in the blogosphere follow?

Had a great time aboard the USS Constellation for the opening ceremony of the 1st Annual Baltimore Beer Week (#bbw09).    Got to talk to a ton of people from the old Sean Bolan’s days.  Boog Powell tapped the firkin of Clipper City Loose Canon.  “It’s tapped hon!”  “Squire Frederick” was a nice touch to the ceremonies.

Beer highlights for me – Oliver Dark Mild, Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale & the variety of beers that Legends was pouring.   Special thanks to Mick Kipp for arranging my invite to this!

Wow.  It is hard to believe that DuClaw isn’t particpating in the initial Baltimore Beer Week (#bbw09).   For whatever reason, they missed the boat on this one.  

Background:

Via google: “The #1 craft brewery in Maryland (ratebeer.com), DuClaw Brewing Company offers award winning handcrafted beers”.  

This recipe originated from Abita Restoration Ale (one of Lyss’s favorites).   So this is my take on that beer.   It has become our “house” brew and I think Tom has brewed it several times also.

Ingredients:

Hops:

Yeast:

I was lucky to have the opportunity to brew yesterday so Tom and I made a double batch that we split.   We changed a few things on this batch – the hopping schedule, added a little pils malt to replicate the original and yeast selection.   Yield: 5.5 gallons, OG: 1.058