Nova Scotia Craft Beer Full House Beer Fest [VIDEO]

The crew from NSLIVE.tv asked me to talk to a few brewers at the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia's Full House. Here is a playlist of the the afternoon in three videos. Watch it with the whole family or listen to it like a podcast. 

CBANS releases Made Here by Us Community Beer

Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia (CBANS) members assembled on February 28th at Tatamagouche Brewing to brew a collaboration ale. The result was a pale ale with nearly 100% Nova Scotia sourced ingredients that includes a Nova Scotian yeast, harvested from a pin cherry tree in Cape Breton. 
There were nearly 9,000 cans produced that will be hitting the shelves of the NSLC and private liquor stores on April 2nd with the profits going to fund Nova Scotia craft beer initiatives. 

Unfiltered Brewing Sues the NSLC

(Halifax, NS) - The embattled liquor agencies in the Maritimes have one more fight on their hands. Unfiltered Brewing in Halifax is taking the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) to court over a fee that Unfiltered considers an unconstitutional tax. 

The fee that is in question is the Retail Sales Mark-up Allocation that the NSLC levies on craft brewers. This fee, that is referred to as the remittance tax by craft breweries, is 50 cents for every liter they sell directly or gives away as a sample. This fee has been in the news over the last year and I spoke to it in a blog in April called How can Nova Scotia be more Craft Beer Friendly. The fee is 150% higher for breweries than wine or spirit producers and despite promises to harmonize the fee among industries it has never happened. The Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia (CBANS) holds that the money would be better suited being reinvested in equipment and jobs rather than being absorbed in to the NSLC's general revenue. 

In Unfiltered's filing, that was shared on twitter today, they said they paid $24,000 in their first year of operation and says this fee is unconstitutional and equates to a tax that the corporation does not have the authority to levy and collect. 

The case is scheduled for September 6th at 11:00 AM at the Lower Water Street courts. 

NOVA SCOTIA’S CRAFT BREWERS FLATTERED BY ATTENTION

NOVA SCOTIA’S CRAFT BREWERS FLATTERED BY ATTENTION FROM INTERNATIONAL BEER CONGLOMERATE

November 30, 2015

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia’s craft brewers are flattered that international beer conglomerate InBev subsidiary Labatt’s Brewing Company announced last week that they are interested in learning about how to brew craft beer in Nova Scotia. This is the latest endorsement of the world class, award winning craft beer coming from Nova Scotia.

“Those of us who brew premium craft beer in Nova Scotia have always been proud of the world class quality of our products”, said Emily Tipton, president of CBANS and owner of Boxing Rock Brewing Company. “This new attention supports what Nova Scotians have been saying for the past several years, that they want to see more craft beer.”

Nova Scotia beer market data over the past few years has shown that the Nova Scotia craft beer market share has grown by over 25% per year, while traditional, multinational beer products are losing market share.

“We believe in Nova Scotia. We believe in the people who buy our beer and support our industry. We believe our commitment to the Nova Scotia needs to be more than glitzy ads and gimmicks. Even with the endorsement from Anheuser Busch Inbev SA we will continue to work hard and brew all of our beer right here in Nova Scotia, and we will let our products do the talking.” said Tipton. “In addition to brewing great beer, the Nova Scotia craft beer industry employs Nova Scotians in every region of the province, and we reinvest in the province, and in these communities.”

Labatt Brewing Company Ltd. is a Belgian-owned beer company. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew; it is now part of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA is a multinational beverage and brewing company headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. It is the world's largest brewer and has a 25 percent global market share. Their market capitalization is $197 Billion and trades on the New York stock exchange (ABI).

CBANS represents craft breweries in every region of the Province, including sixteen microbreweries and seven brewpubs from Sydney to Yarmouth. More than half of our members are located in rural communities, and our members employ more than 300 hundred hard working Nova Scotians. Our industry has more than doubled in size since 2011 and we now retail more than $16 million dollars of locally made craft beer annually in Nova Scotia. Our members have won national and international awards for our products and export sales are growing every year, establishing our industry’s products as world class and Nova Scotia as a destination for craft beer lovers across North America and the world.

Contact:
Emily Tipton, President
Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia
emily@boxingrock.ca