![St. Augustine Distillery interior. Photograph courtesy of St. Augustine Distillery](https://www.beveragemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/distillery-interior_CO_St.-Augustine-Distillery.jpg)
St. Augustine Distillery interior. Photograph courtesy of St. Augustine Distillery
Permanent Federal Excise Tax reduction and loosening direct-to-consumer shipping laws breed optimism amidst ongoing challenges
By Jake Emen
After several rounds of temporary enactments, craft distillers have finally achieved permanent federal excise tax (FET) reduction with the passage of the Craft Beverage Modernization & Tax Reform Act in December 2020. This keeps in place the temporary reduction of FET on spirits from $13.50 to $2.70 per proof gallon on the first 100,000 proof gallons removed from bond annually—a boon for craft distillers, as 98 percent of craft distillers in the country produce less than this annually, according to the American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA).