NEWBURGH – The Newburgh Brewing Company,
doing business in an old factory in lower Newburgh, is but one of several
craft brewers to sprout up in the Hudson Valley in recent years. The small
independent brewers have found a niche in a market long dominated by the
big national brands.
Neill Acer is a survivor. His Defiant Brewing company has been around
for about 20 years.
“The hardest thing in the world, to get your product out on the
shelves, hardest thing in the world to meet the new person who is going
to try our beer, and now, we’re in a room full of people who all
make craft beer, and we’re going to support,” Acer said, joining
other brewers at Newburgh Brewing Company, in supporting a legislative
effort by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D, Cold Spring), to give the small
independent brewers a tax break.
Maloney, Acer, Tommy Keegan of Keegan Ale and Christopher Basso
of Newburgh Brewing Company
Maloney said it is money back in the economy.
“We understand the economic impact over the first ten years would
be able $700 million,” Maloney said. “That is a relatively
modest amount in the federal budget but it would have an enormous impact
right here. I’m sure these guys could tell you that cutting their
federal excise tax in half, or eliminating it, would have an immediate
and powerful impact on thousands of small businesses.”
Maloney said each job that would be created via the tax breaks would leverage
up to 45 other jobs, in distribution, wholesale and retail.
