Jimmy Carter and Craft Beer
I admit that the post I wrote that related to Jimmy Carter only related to him in the sense that he had impact on the trajectory of the nation of Iran. However, Carter does have a positive domestic legacy when it comes to beer, and I’m not talking about his younger brother Billy’s promotion of “Billy Beer”.
In the late 1970s, the economy was not doing so hot, suffering from both high unemployment and high inflation, also known as “stagflation”, a phenomenon that was regarded as impossible in traditional Keynesian economics. Although Carter was not a conservative president, many politicians of the time, Carter included, thought that deregulation was a good idea as a way to get the economy on better footing. A loosening of rules and restrictions were applied to numerous areas, including trucking, airlines, and, to a degree, beer!
Although on a national level, Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the consequences of Prohibition continued into the 1970s. Home brewing remained illegal, thus the making of beer was restricted to those who were licensed to brew. However, with the limitations on competition existing, the American beer industry was stagnating by the 1970s and American beer was often a watery joke in Europe; most of its nations didn’t experience an era of Prohibition and thus a great hindering of beer production and innovation. In response to the struggling beer industry, the path towards expansion began in 1976 when President Ford signed into law a revenue bill that included a reduction in the tax on beer barrels from $9 to $7 a barrel for the first 60,000 barrels produced, lowering the barrier to entry (Kemp). Jimmy Carter followed up on this by enabling a great deal of experimentation and innovation in beer making in the United States. He did so by signing a law in 1978 a bill that legalized home brewing, permitting people to brew up to 100 gallons of beer annually! Although this was not for commercial purposes, it did enable people to experiment with beers and in numerous cases eventually enter the industry with the products they had tested. The experience needed to start one’s own brewery wouldn’t otherwise have been available legally without having worked for an established brewery first. Although Jimmy Carter has sometimes been credited with “deregulating beer”, his impact has been questioned (Fallows). There were, after all, more actions than his that contributed, such as the legalization of brewpubs which I will discuss in a moment. However, it is estimated that 90% of craft breweries originate from home brewing (Fallows).
In 1979, when Sierra Nevada Brewing Company was founded, there were only 90 breweries in the United States, but by 2017, there were 5,301 breweries, and of these 5,234 were craft breweries (Kemp). Another vital step was the legalization of brewpubs, so breweries were no longer completely reliant on stores or restaurants carrying their products, and this began in none other than Washington state in 1982, and California followed soon along with Oregon in 1983. Other states proceeded to legalize brewpubs not long after. The Pacific Northwest has an excellent reputation for beer, one that in my opinion is well deserved, and you can thank Jimmy Carter for the legalization of home brewing that brought forth talents and delicious brews, many of which would not likely have seen the light of day otherwise.
References
Fallows, J. (2010, August 19). Jimmy Carter: Not the King of Beers? (Updated). The Atlantic.
Retrieved from
Kemp, D. (2017, October 11). A Toast to Beer Deregulation. Manhattan Institute.
Retrieved from
https://manhattan.institute/article/a-toast-to-beer-deregulation