Beer Tax Proposal Lifts Boston Beer Stock

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Boston Beer(SAM) have jumped 4% to $62.63 after Massachusetts Senator John Kerry presented a new bill to Senate on Wednesday proposing that the excise tax for small beer makers be cut to $3.50 a barrel for the first 60,000 barrels produced each year from $7.

The proposed change would also reduce the excise tax to $16 from $18 for every additional barrel up to 2 million barrels.

There are about 1,500 small breweries in the U.S. that could stand to benefit from such a tax cut, including 40 small ones in Massachusetts. Boston Beer, the maker of Sam Adams and the biggest of the group, is, of course, one of them.

Co-sponsoring the bill with Kerry, a Democrat, are Republican Senators Mike Crapo of Idaho and Olympia Snowe of Maine; as well as Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.

Democrat Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Republican Represntative Kevin Brady of Texas introduced the bill to the House toward the end of last year.

-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York

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