Galt's Gulch

How High Are Beer Taxes in Your State?

Posted by gaiagal 9 years, 6 months ago to Government
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Beer lovers will want to avoid Tennessee!
SOURCE URL: http://dailysignal.com/2015/05/26/how-high-are-beer-taxes-in-your-state/

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  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 6 months ago
    Maybe the Feds should step in and try to set some "Fair Beer Taxation" across the country. I think the people in Tennessee should riot and burn their business down. What does the president of the United States have to say about this?
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 6 months ago
    One can avoid beer tax easily in Tennessee. One can't easily avoid state income taxes in the 43 states that have them. Tenessee doesn't have state income tax. Hooray, Tennessee!
    Brew your own and cut out the tax man (except for sales tax on materials to make beer which can be avoided by internet/mail purchases.)
    A good balance might be living in Vancouver WA where there are no state income taxes, and one can shop across the river in Portland OR with no sales tax. (Beer tax is lower in Portland, too.)
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 6 months ago
    PA showed surprisingly low at #45. But we have insane state laws that make up for the low beer tax. You can only by beer from a package store. Unless you want to pay a fortune and buy it from a bar/restaurant with a license in which case you can only buy a six pack or maybe two. Otherwise it's off to the package store for a case.

    And all wine and liquor is bought in state run stores only.

    All in all, I'm wondering how they calculated this map.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 6 months ago
      For about $100 in equipment and the ability to follow a recipe and easy instructions, you can brew your own in your kitchen and beat the system. Brew on Saturday, bottle the following Saturday, drink the 3rd Saturday. 15 days from brewing to drinking. A simple delicious ale (5% alc) costs about 50 cents a bottle, and the beer will taste better than any of the most popular mass market beers. For about 60-70 cents a bottle you can make porter or stout at half the price of store bought if that is your taste. For a real treat you can make a barleywine ale for about $1 a bottle that sells for $4 a bottle in the store.
      How many friends do you have who would love a home made six-pack of beer as a gift?
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      • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 6 months ago
        I wouldn't mind trying this. How technical does it get? Not that I couldn't do technical (I'm an environmental engineer) but am just wondering how easy/hard it is to screw it up.

        Also do you think it's possible to create an English style bitter this way?
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        • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 6 months ago
          The most important thing is sanitation (bottles, fermenter, stirrers, hydrometer, thermometer, anything that touches the beer after the boil) and that is pretty easy to do with sodium percarbonate.
          I'd recommend getting a copy of The Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.
          http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Homeb...
          It has enough technical detail explained in everyday terms, and with it you can start simple and grow into more complex brewing. At its simplest you could just buy a can kit (hopped extract with dry yeast) add water and boil in a large pot. You also need other inexpensive equipment and bottles, too. I have collected bottles from a local bar and paid them the deposit. (They can be a bit dirty so soaking in bleach solution is advisable the first time.) I have bought swing top Grolsch bottles on Ebay that can be used repeatedly without needing a capper or caps. Glass bottles are more satisfying, but plastic ones with screw on tops will work. ( I never use plastic bottles.)
          There are thousands of recipes on line, and you will find hundreds of ways to make English bitter beer that will please your palette. There are also online sites that you can enter your proposed recipe and it will automatically calculate the approximate alcohol content and the bitterness based on the fermentable sugar and the hops you have chosen. that way you can easily take an existing recipe and tweek it for something new.
          Charlie's book explains the whole process, the equipment options, and the chemical reactions that happen to create the flavor, alcohol, and carbonation.
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    • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 6 months ago
      I have always thought that was archaic, but it's also rigged. Those guys have a monopoly. When I visit family out there, I can't stand having to remember where the distributor is so I can bring something to the inevitable get togethers. The wine I bring from though. :-)
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      • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 6 months ago
        Of course it's rigged. Just try to get rid of the state wine and liquor store system. It just has to be a hot bed of corruption and nepotism.

        And I'm sure the package store lobby would fight anybody who tried to allow (gasp) grocery stores to sell beer and wine. Like in most states.
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        • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 6 months ago
          We can buy beer in the groc stores here. Not wine or of course liquor. But that can be sold in privately owned businesses. Not like Virginia that has ABC, (package), stores. At least, that's how it was when I lived in Virginia.
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  • Posted by Snoogoo 9 years, 6 months ago
    In my state, we can't even buy alcohol on a Sunday. It's basically hell.
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    • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 6 months ago
      It was that way here until last year. And there was only one dry town, right next to us, left in the whole state. The vote came back last year with a resounding YES! to allow alcohol sales. There is one store in the entire town, and the owner bought the empty attached bank and is putting in, I believe, a wine and cheese shop. Can't wait!
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  • Posted by IronMan 9 years, 5 months ago
    I'll start by apologizing for being so late to this thread, but it's been a hectic week for this greedy capitalist pig.

    I too am a long time home brewer. However, I feel that some of the posts like those suggesting folks read Charlie P's book make it sound a little intimidating. So I recommend anyone interested checkout an online site like Northern Brewer (I have no financial interest, just a VERY satisfied customer).

    It's awfully easy. Save two cases of bottles (no screw tops) and buy one of their home brew kits. You can spend a lot or a not so little amount. Then buy a recipe kit and have at it. Yes, sanitizing is next to godliness, but you don't have to overthink things.

    Once your inner beer nerd kicks in, then read Charlie's book and start calculating the ABV of your beers. A couple of hints: don't start with big beers (high O.G.) that require a yeast starter. Buy smack pack yeasts - they are worth the premium. If you don't have a 5 gallon pot, borrow one.

    Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy - Ben Franklin

    I'll grow the barley and the hops in the Gulch and make the tanks required for fermentation.

    Cheers!
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