Patterson's New Proposed Taxes Include an Increase on Beer

The news world and the blogosphere has been busy with the news of Governor Patterson's new proposed budget as well as his new taxes. One of the new taxes will have an impact on beer drinkers.

This New York Post article says that "The tax on beer increases 24 cents per gallon, or more than double the current rate, which means about 30 cents a case."

We are in tough economic times and this does not seem unreasonable, although some of the other new taxes do. We have not figured out if this tax would eliminate the other $0.25 per bottle tax that has been proposed, or if that is still in play as well.

The Oldest Bars in New York

TutzTutz.com recently did an article on the ten oldest bars in the United States. New York had four of the top ten. P.J. Clark's was the tenth oldest, White House Tavern was the ninth oldest, Ear Inn was the eighth oldest and McSorley’s Old Ale House was the third oldest.

P.J. Clarke’s
Established in 1868.
915 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022
(212) 317-1616
http://www.pjclarkes.com/

White Horse Tavern
Established in 1880
567 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
(212) 989-3956.
http://www.new-pony.com/

Ear Inn
Established in 1874
326 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-9060
http://www.earinn.com/

McSorley’s Old Ale House
Established in 1854.
15 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-9148.
http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com/

Increased Bottle Tax

In March, we discussed a proposed tax on beer bottles. You can go back and read our feelings on this tax or we can sum it up shortly by saying that we think it is flat out ridiculous. the topic has come up again with new articles being published recently. This one comes from LegislativeGazette.com.

This article comes from Peter Vukelic of the Buffalo News. He states that the News has advocated for the passing of the bill known as "B-4" before based on environmental concerns, but is now a bad idea because of the state of the economy. He correctly points out that the money would not go to helping the environment but rather to help aid alcohol abusers. How New York State came up with the idea to punish people who responsibly enjoy alcohol to help those abuse it is beyond me.

I understand that beer contains alcohol and that alcohol needs to be regulated. I also understand that underage drinking is a problem in this country. I want to state however that the way we go about combating this problem is absolutely dead wrong. There is no underage drinking problem in Europe because children are raised to appreciate it instead of abuse it.

Ithaca Brewing Company's 10th Anniversary

I like living in Albany. The state's capital has plenty to do and a great beer environment. I can go to one of the country's most famous beer bar in Mahars, a great beer store in Oliver's, and get great beer from breweries like Brown's and C.H. Evans Ale. There are some occasions where I wished I lived somewhere else. Today is one of those days, as I wished I lived in Ithaca.

The Ithaca Beer Company will be celebrating their tenth anniversary tonight. The brewery will be celebrating at Chapter House, Ithaca Ale House, Kilpatrick's, Korova and Pixel Lounge. The first 100 customers to order an Ithaca Beer at each bar will receive a special 10th Anniversary Ithaca Beer glass as well as being entered into theraffle which carries a grand prize of 10 cases of Ithaca Beer a year for the next 10 years!