Our Goals
| 
| 
| Society Related - Charter Documents |
To help us maintain a precise focus on achieving our mission of creating a better beer culture in WV, we have established the following specific goals which will be major steps towards completing our mission:
1. Develop a license fee structure that makes it easier for small brewers to enter the WV market.
- WV's current Brewers License fee is $1500 per year. This is one of the highest license fees in the U.S.. While brewers like SABMiller and Anheuser Busch can easily afford to pay this amount, smaller brewers may have a hard time justifying this fee for access to a market as small as the one in WV. WVCBAS would like to see a Sliding Scale Fee based on volume of beer imported into WV. This would allow the smaller Brewers to access the WV market without the burden of an extremely high fee. As these brewers increase their WV sales, the fee would go up accordingly. Many other states use a similar structure to great success. It is a win win situation. As it stands now, many brewers will not consider WV as a possible market, therefore WV is missing out on the revenue that would be created by these products. If we allow them to enter the market with a smaller fee, it will create some revenue for the state and give consumers a broader spectrum of choice. As these companies increase their sales, the revenue for WV will increase too.
2. Establish a Beer Specialty Shop designation and a Beer Tasting Permit.
- Currently WV retailers designated as wine specialty shops are allowed to purchase a Wine Tasting permit for a fee of $150 which allows them to hold wine tasting events within their retail establishment. There is currently no language in the State Code that permits this type of activity for Craft Beer Retailers. Therefore WVCBAS supports legislation which establishes a Craft Beer Specialty Shop license and a Craft Beer Tasting Permit which would be the exact equivilant of that for which wine retailers are allowed to purchase.
3. Establish the right for Resident Brewers and Brewpubs to sell directly to consumers at Fairs and Festivals
- WV wineries are currently permited to sell directly to consumers at appropriatly licensed Fairs and Festivals, however WV Brewers are not permited this same luxury. For a WV Brewer's products to be available at a Fair or Festival they must go through the three tier system which increases the cost to the consumer due to mark-ups and decreases the profits that the WV Brewer will recieve. Therefore the WVCBAS supports legislation which will mirror that which allows WV wineries to sell directly to the consumer at Fairs and Festivals.
Last Updated (Sunday, 07 March 2010 12:54)