President and CEO Bob Pease, Director of Federal Affairs Katie Marisic recognized for federal excise tax efforts

Boulder, Colo. • Jan. 22, 2021—Brewers Association President and CEO Bob Pease and Director of Federal Affairs Katie Marisic were honored Thursday in an online ceremony as Brewbound’s 2020 Persons of the Year for their work to achieve passage of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) – securing reduced federal excise taxes and resulting in an annual savings of $80 million for craft brewers. The Brewbound Awards have recognized large and small beer companies, as well as notable industry figures, for their execution of various business and philanthropic initiatives since 2014.

“Making the federal excise tax cuts permanent was a two-decades-long effort, one that only gained traction in recent years after the industry’s leading trade groups banded together,” Brewbound editor Justin Kendall said. “For their efforts to unite the industry and finally get permanence across the finish line, Brewbound is proud to honor the Brewers Association’s Bob Pease and Katie Marisic, as well as the Beer Institute’s Jim McGreevy and Joe Heaton, as our 2020 Persons of the Year.”

“Securing permanent federal excise tax recalibration for small brewers has been a top priority for the Brewers Association since 2009. I am honored to be recognized along with Katie as one of Brewbound’s Persons of the Year,” said Pease. “Inclusion of CBMTRA in the year-end legislation is the direct result of the hard work and efforts of the Brewers Association, state guilds, and our member breweries. Our advocacy at the local and federal levels has helped demonstrate the important role that the brewing industry plays in our country’s economy.”

The recognition was the second in as many months for the pair. Pease and Marisic were also named among The Hill’s Top Lobbyists for 2020, and Marisic was recognized as one of Good Beer Hunting’s 2020 Signifiers. 

“I am humbled and honored by the recognition and would like to thank all our partners in this effort,” said Marisic. “For the past several decades, America’s craft brewing industry has been growing tremendously and adding thousands of jobs across the country. Like other small businesses, many small breweries, brewpubs, and taprooms have been devastated by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This legislation and programs like the Paycheck Protection Program are vital lifelines to help small brewers weather this unprecedented health and economic challenge. We strongly believe that America’s small-brewing industry can return to its incredible growth and vitality and this bipartisan legislation will help our members do so.”

The temporary lower rates were due to expire on December 31 unless Congress extended them or made them permanent. Congress included excise tax rate permanence as part of the COVID-19 relief/year-end spending bill signed into law on December 27.

With the assistance of its members in every congressional district in America, the Brewers Association has become the most formidable advocate in the alcohol beverage industry in Washington, D.C. In the 116^th Congress, for example, bipartisan legislation to make the federal excise tax rates permanent was supported by 77 members of the Senate and 351 members of the House.

By including the CBMTRA language, congressional leaders acknowledged the profound impact the reduced excise tax rate has had on the growth and trajectory of a uniquely American entrepreneurial success story, recognizing that allowing the lower rates to expire would be extremely detrimental to the 8,300 small breweries, brewpubs, and taprooms across the country. Prior to COVID-19’s initial outbreak in the U.S. last March, craft breweries employed more than 160,000 workers at their breweries alone, and, including related industry positions, played a role in 580,000 jobs. Craft brewing’s economic impact surpassed $82 billion in 2019 and more than 25,000 jobs were created by craft breweries in 2018 and 2019. 

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