The Beer Tax Cometh

Comments

Hahahahaha!

Mr. Poe on April 8, 2010 at 12:24 PM

Woo Hoo!

Oh, wait, does that include Rainier, Kokanee, Henry's, or a good hard cider?

Bummer. Guess I'll have to drink Hale's Ales instead. Wonder if I can get a case discount, since they're about 8 blocks from my house ...

Will in Seattle on April 8, 2010 at 12:25 PM

Eli lost his last soccer game, fyi. That's funny too.

Mr. Poe on April 8, 2010 at 12:25 PM

Why are they taxing PBR? That's screwed up.

Baconcat on April 8, 2010 at 12:31 PM

Well... okay. Tax the big guys? I guess that's fine. And a little extra per six pack isn't so bad.

I can still use this as an excuse to feel smug about homebrewing, though, right? Because being insufferable about it is at least half the fun of making your own beer.

balderdash on April 8, 2010 at 12:32 PM

Thanks, Eli. Revisiting that DOTW made this fagoot's day.

gloomy gus on April 8, 2010 at 12:33 PM

At least it's recession-proof.

Proteus on April 8, 2010 at 12:33 PM

It is like they are sitting there in their gold encrusted chairs saying you know the sales tax is awesome, but could we make it more regressive?

econoline on April 8, 2010 at 12:37 PM

Yeah, tax the beer people drink when they can't afford good beer. How about a sales tax on rent, but only for apartments less than $800 a month? Bread that's less than $4 a loaf? Shoes from Payless, but not from Nordstrom?

pox on April 8, 2010 at 12:38 PM

FAGOOTS! Lick it biutch!
http://bit.ly/O11tI

Kelly O on April 8, 2010 at 12:41 PM

Really dude, NSFW...

capnjohnny on April 8, 2010 at 12:49 PM

This tax is a hate crime.

Baconcat on April 8, 2010 at 12:50 PM

as a beer drinker, I approve.

Andy_Squirrel on April 8, 2010 at 12:51 PM

fucking bullshit. this is where taint starts getting pissed off. sure, it sounds great...tax the mass produced swill and leave the craft beers alone. until you realize that breweries such as sierra nevada and stone will be taxed, as they produce over 60,000 bbl/year. and do you think they will stop with this tax? not fucking likely.

why not an increased wine tax?

taint on April 8, 2010 at 12:53 PM

@11: Scroll faster.

Baconcat on April 8, 2010 at 12:54 PM

Just one more reason not to drink crappy beer...

COMTE on April 8, 2010 at 12:56 PM

and by the way, deschutes brews over 60,000 bbl/year, so

mirror pond=TAXED

taint on April 8, 2010 at 12:56 PM

This tax a) disproportionately affects poor people, and b) encourages incorrigible beer snobs (see @5 and 13). I can't decide what upsets me more.

Hernandez on April 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM

not a fan of pyramid, but they also would be subject to the tax. so redhook is not the only wa brewer affected.

taint on April 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM

@14, am I supposed to care that Sierra Nevada gets taxed? Is it not "mass-produced"? What do you think "mass-produced" means?

Fnarf on April 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM

@18

Dry-hopped! Bottle-conditioned! Real ale! Artisanal yeasts! Fermentation ethnography! Brettanomyces! Spent grain! Geueze!

KRAUSENING!

Hahahahaha!

balderdash on April 8, 2010 at 1:12 PM

One summer I mass-consumed enough mass-produced Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to fill my hall closet with empty bottles. The autumn trip to the recycler was epic.

gloomy gus on April 8, 2010 at 1:14 PM

20,

you don't have to care. i don't give a fuck. my point is, sierra nevada, regardless of their current production capacity, is craft beer. and it's GOOD. pbr, miller lite, bud, etc are mass produced, mass market swill. NOT GOOD. when's the last time you saw a sierra nevada commercial? yeah, never, because they don't exist.

these fucking idiot democrats are going into their fifth week of the special session and haven't got jack shit to show for it. they refuse to make any hard decisions when it comes to taxes and the budget. we already pay enough taxes on beer...find something else to tax.

taint on April 8, 2010 at 1:16 PM

@19: I think Pyramid is now owned by Magic Hat in Vermont.

DOUG. on April 8, 2010 at 1:20 PM

24,

ah, you're right. i forgot about that. thanks.

anybody here a fan of black raven in redmond?

taint on April 8, 2010 at 1:21 PM

The ironic dick pictures from Drunk of the Week are fucking lame.

Reg on April 8, 2010 at 1:22 PM

All Grain here @21, 83% efficiency. Yeah, I make starters. Suck you extract brewing cunt.

Bohica on April 8, 2010 at 1:23 PM

Well, we're having a true fiscal emergency and the people in charge are largely rural Kiwanis. I can't help but be unsurprised they'd tax the weak first. And people truly outraged by a few cents more per beer are (wrongly, I'm sure) perceived to be about as likely to push back effectively as a herd of Homer Simpsons.

gloomy gus on April 8, 2010 at 1:25 PM

it's true: Mirror Pond is well above the taxable threshold here, as is Pyramid, Full Sail, Alaskan (~125,000 barrels), and Anchor (~100,000). Not sure if Rogue comes under the limit or not. The limit is probably around #20 on this list:

http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/…

Fnarf on April 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM

I don't drink. Suck it, mother humpers!

Vince on April 8, 2010 at 1:32 PM

My question would be "how many staff is the state going to hire to administrate just this one tax provision"? Because it would be a hell of a lot easier to just tax all beer. If you're big enough to produce barrels at all, you're big enough to pay the tax.

Fnarf on April 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM

The douche who thinks he is expressing his hipsterness by quaffing PBR is certainly a more flagrant one than the beer snob douche. I can't think of anything more just than the bigger douche being taxed more.

Rhizome on April 8, 2010 at 1:37 PM

I'd rather see a major tax on $10 douchebag drinks like Appletinis and Lemon Drops.

bigyaz on April 8, 2010 at 1:50 PM

They really don't have to do much of anything Fnarf. Since all the beer that's sold off-premises in this state has to go through one of the licensed distributors anyway, I would imagine they could just collect the tax there, while the cost increase gets passed along to the consumer at the retail level.

COMTE on April 8, 2010 at 1:57 PM

Meh, I'd hit it but only if it gave me my own beertility belt.

cuiveen on April 8, 2010 at 2:29 PM

@25 re: Black Raven.

I've tried several times to get down with their beers, i think they are good, quality beers but with what they are charging to fill a 64 oz growler i think they are overpriced...plus it seems when i encounter em out on the town the drafts are always priced significantly higher than other equivalent quality beers. Good to try something local and the variety is certainly there, but for sig less (ALMOST HALF) money, you can get a growler fulla BlackCat Porter, Big Al, G-town, Schooner, Valhalla (which is newish/excellent) several others i cannot even reveal here.

I wish someone would start a nice google map like the portland folks did on where, how much, etc to fill a growler in town. The yelpers are a messy bunch, and the randomized answers all over the stranger don't help much. Google "growler fill portland map" and you'll find it--truly excellent.

on April 8, 2010 at 2:37 PM

Good policy, and should be extended to liquor as well.

InfinitePest on April 8, 2010 at 2:41 PM

@32: I drink PBR and Rainier and the like because they're cheap.

on April 8, 2010 at 2:42 PM

The research on the effect the mass produced, lower quality beers has on your brain and the "ketone bodies" produced is pretty solid. These cheaper crummier beers (admittedly I drink a lot of beer and some of it budweiser in bottles) do more damage to your brain and liver than most mircobrews, some researchers are theorizing that your body has to digest and process the more filling micros in order to absorb the alcohol...while the cheapo macros are much more "poundable" and therefore rapid absorption is more possible. I'll bet that more DUI convictees in KING county get that way because they drink the cheapos and more of em..? Anyone out there know anything on this or can you correct me?

on April 8, 2010 at 2:51 PM

The big question is why were lawyers still the only class of people untaxed?

(the obvious answer being they drink fancy wine and champagne and are a majority of our House and Senate)

Will in Seattle on April 8, 2010 at 3:21 PM

and Appletinis and Lemon Drops are yummy, @33.

Will in Seattle on April 8, 2010 at 3:23 PM

@41 You're too far past the sorority years to say things like that, Will.

Hernandez on April 8, 2010 at 3:26 PM

I'd hit that so hard, he'd honk like a goose.

Original Andrew on April 8, 2010 at 3:29 PM

@30 Vince- "I don't drink. Suck it, mother humpers!"

I'll convince them to tax catfuckers.

on April 8, 2010 at 7:36 PM

Quit yer bitchin'. Everybody knew the legislature wouldn't have the stones to come up with some real tax increases, so a hike on beer it is. The tax is a grand total of 28 cents per six-pack. If you can afford to drink beer, you can afford to pay this. Plus, you can avoid the tax entirely by drinking the questionable swill your old college buddy and his roommate brewed in their garage.

Greg on April 8, 2010 at 10:44 PM

C'mon! Whats the problem? They need your beer money for more Bronze statues and road beautification!!! Smokes, beer, bottled water, candy.. health tax, national tax at 10%. Woooo!! Hello socialism!!! We can only hope as we give up lifes little pleasures that they create something shiny and pretty that we can walk by and look at. You asked for it and HA! you got it LOLOL!

mysty on April 12, 2010 at 2:17 PM

The Beer Tax Cometh

Comments

Please wait...

Add a comment

Preview

Editors' Picks

Eating Beef Jerky at the Bodies Exhibit

The Problem with Proving, Again and Again, That Seattle and Portland Are Not Dying

Charles Krafft Is a White Nationalist Who Believes the Holocaust Is a Deliberately Exaggerated Myth

Cars Kill People and the Environment

Council Delivers on Promise Not to Please Everyone in Budget

An Investigation of Seattle’s Most Expensive Taco Bell

Support The Stranger

Comments

Please wait...

Add a comment

Preview

Editors' Picks

Just Can't Get Enough?

Sign up for our newsletter for news recaps, updates, and more!