subject: Support Your Local Brewery Movement [print this page] When you think that there are more-and-more craft breweries popping-up in America, somebodys taking notice or you wouldnt see such phenomenal growth. Right now there are more than 2,100 artisan breweries in the country. And another 12-hundred are in the planning stages.
But heres the staggering disconnect. Every friggin craft brewer combined only collects less than 6% of the United States beer market. Heres the deal, if you want these small breweries to keep growing youre going to need to do more than just watch the progress. You need to get some skin in the game.
These thousands of small companies are a mostly disconnected lot when it comes to politics. Their small profits, tiny operating margins and itsy-bitsy marketing budgets leave little left over to have some influence in the halls of government. That leaves an uneven playing field for micro- and nano-brewers when compared to the bucks coming from Big Beer.
No one is lobbying for the little guys. That means no one is keeping tabs of nefarious legislation that could destroy the local craftsmen and women. Theres an empty chair for those who love and live-by the tastes you can only get from an original mug o suds.
Thats where this group called the Support Your Local Brewery network comes in. So far its 40-thousand strong, but majority rules. Check that: Money talks.
Torn from the page of the Support Your Local Brewery website is this call to action:
When you sign up for free with your email address and zip code, youll receive occasional action alerts that let you know about local issues, and who to contact to make a difference. As Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione (Brewers Association Board of Directors Chair) says, sometimes it doesnt take hundreds of people just a couple dozen voices raised can turn the tide on harmful legislation. Great beer is depending on you.
See that. FREE.
The Support Your Local Brewery (SYLB) network is a grassroots activist organization whose ranks are made up of beer enthusiasts from all 50 states with the mission of assisting brewers in obtaining fair market access, as well as fair legislative and regulatory treatment.
Modeled on the American Revolutionary War-era Minutemen, SYLB Beer Activists respond at a minutes notice to email Action Alerts whenever a state or federal government affairs involvement opportunity arises. In its five years of existence, beer activists answered the call twenty times on a variety of issues ranging from tax increase threats and small brewer access to market challenges to a host of issues aimed at protecting and enhancing the availability of small brewery beer in the marketplace.
So, what the F are you waiting for? Sign-up today, guzzlers!
