The Craft Beer Industry Association is on a roll. Last month’s Craft Brewers Conference – Australia’s first – was deemed a success by those who attended and saw the national association sign up more members. Meanwhile, its Beer Enthusiasts program, by which beer lovers can throw their support behind the cause, is up and running too.
And now it has revisited its fees for members to offer more levels of entry. The aim is to offer a greater range in recognition of the vastly different sizes of the breweries operating across Australia. There is now a lower entry level fee of $250 per annum for nanobreweries and additional tiers based on output for breweries at the Micro, Regional and National level.
âThe CBIA Board has received a lot of feedback from the craft beer industry over the last 12 months regarding the various categories for membership,“ said chairman Brad Rogers.
“As a result of listening to our members and potential members, we are very pleased to announce these changes.”
In a statement, the CBIA said the changes sought to achieve three goals:
To make it more affordable for the nation’s smallest brewers to join the CBIA.
To lessen the financial cost for those breweries making the jump from the Microbrewer category to the Regional Category and from the Regional category to the National category.
To recognise the changes created by Lion Co’s takeover of Little World Beverages to form the nation’s largest craft entity.
“Many small breweries have told us that they want to join but just don’t have the room in their budgets for $500. We hope that by halving the membership fee we will make it easier for them to be involved,” said Rogers.
âThe industry also has a number of breweries that are ready to make that jump up to the next output level. These guys are investing heavily in their businesses to accommodate this production increase and having such steep increases to their membership fees was a lot to ask.
âWe have also had to adjust the upper limit of our membership structure due to the Lion takeover of Little World Beverages. Our Constitution prohibits one entity from having two votes so Malt Shovel and Little Creatures will now be represented under the one membership. The national category will still have three members though with Burleigh Brewing Co recently joining the CBIA."
The changes to the membership categories are effective immediately.
The Craft Beer Industry Association’s membership year runs in line with the financial year. Any brewery wishing to join before the end of June will only pay for the 2013/14 period.
The revised membership category structure:
- Nano 0 – 49,999 litres p.a. – $250
- Microbrewer (Band 1) 50,000 to 99,999 litres p.a. – $500
- Microbrewer (Band 2) 100,000 to 299,999 litres p.a. – $1,000
- Regional Craft Brewer (Band 1) 300,000 to 699,999 litres p.a. – $3,000
- Regional Craft Brewer (Band 2) 700,000 to 999,999 litres p.a. – $5,000
- National Craft Brewer (Band 1) 1 million to 2.5 million litres p.a. – $7,000
- National Craft Brewer (Band 2) 2.5 million to 10 million litres p.a. – $10,000
- National Craft Brewer (Band 3) 10 million to 20 million litres p.a. – $20,000
- National Craft Brewer (Band 4) 20 million to 40 million litres p.a. – $30,000
For more information on the Craft Beer Industry Association, visit their website.
