New Senate Bill Could Provide Relief To Indiana Hop, Barley Farmers

Through all my griping last week about laws and codes on the books that are outdated and harm breweries, this week some good news has come to light that will actually benefit many producers in the craft beer community.

Senate Bill 127, authored by Senator Jon Ford, a Republican from district 38, was introduced to the floor. Dubbed a “beer excise tax,” SB 127 would lower the excise tax to $.035 for the first 500,000 gallons of beer/malt liquor and $.075 for the next 14.5 million gallons if a certain percentage of the hops and barley used in the beer/malt liquor are grown in Indiana.

This bill would incentivize Indiana craft brewers to purchase the hops and barley for their beers from any of the numerous hop and malt farms we have here in Indiana, like Sugar Creek Malt Co., Sugar Creek Hop Farm, and Waltz Valley Hop Farm, while providing a tax relief to the farmers that help fuel our favorite breweries. SB 127 was introduced and read on January 5, and was then referred to the Committee on Public Policy.

There’s still a lot of work needed to be done to help modernize Indiana’s laws regarding its amazing beer makers, but providing a little relief to the farms that help our beer grow is a good start!