We don’t claim to be particularly political at Piney River. But we do believe in speaking up about things that are important to us to our elected officials. As we’ve learned over the past four years, craft beer crosses all political lines, and we can all come together to share a beer.
And that’s how this came to be.
Brian shows off the new construction project to US Representative Jason Smith (MO-8).
We were very honored to host our Congressman for Missouri’s 8th District at Piney River today. Representative Jason Smith and his aides Eric Harmon and Tammy Corrigan picked a beautiful day in the Ozarks for a look around their local craft brewery–and it was a first for Representative Smith in his district!
We shared the Piney River story…from home brewing to professionally brewing 10 gallons at a time to adding brewers and other staff members in our rural Missouri small business!
Brewer Amber Powell got her chance to speak up about being a female brewer in a male-dominated industry. Go Amber!
And here’s everyone that was on hand today at the BARn with Representative Smith–Jonathan Bates; Ian Dreisel; Amber Powell and Brian and Joleen.
Representative Smith was genuinely interested in the entire process from brewing to packaging to shipping beer to distributors. We were able to tell him about the great support we receive locally and the way that support allows us to give back to our local community. Plus, our BARn is a place that brings people from all over to Bucyrus, MO to spend money and to create great memories that make them want to come back and bring friends with them. We talked about small business issues such as financing and employees.
Brian shows off some canned beer ready to be shipped to Representative Smith.
We had the opportunity to thank Rep. Smith for the support he’s already given for lowering federal excise taxes for small brewers, and we asked him to consider co-sponsoring a bill that we’ve worked with the Brewer’s Association to support, HR 232, the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act.
There are over 3,000 small brewers in the US today. Craft beer recently took a double digit market share. Great things are happening with craft beer in the US, and today we had the opportunity to share our personal story with a member of Congress. What a privilege!
Just like we’ve told you, we also told Representative Smith that we are in this business because we are doing something we love and celebrating and sharing the Ozarks, which we also love. Representative Smith grew up just one county away near the headwaters of the Current River. He understands the love we have for this area, too.
And I’ve said it before, so I’ll say it again…at the end of the day, beer is bipartisan. Let’s raise a pint to working together to grow craft beer in the US!
