Sen. Mark Udall [2] stopped by Avery Brewing [3] on Friday to promote his plan to reduce the cost of producing a barrel of beer (31 gallons) by chopping the per-barrel excise tax. Udall wants to cut the tax in half for both small and gargantuan brewers—large breweries would now pay $9 per barrel and smaller brewers would pay $3.50. The idea, Udall says, is to free up money so that breweries can invest the dough into growing their companies.  

Visiting Avery to pimp his plan was a logical choice for Udall: The brewery recently received approval to construct a $27 million [4], 95,922-square-foot facility in Boulder. If that project doesn't scream "business is booming," we're not sure what does. A few other Colorado beer folk, including Brian Dunn [5], the owner of Great Divide [6], spoke about how lowering the tax [7] would help breweries hire new employees.

But the under-reported point seems to be this: This is likely even bigger news for the dozens of new breweries planning to open in Colorado in the next year. Last we checked, [8] there were 75 breweries in the planning stages. For a brand new business—beer related or not—saving a few extra bucks here and there can mean the difference between success or failure. If Udall gets his way and the tax is lowered, perhaps it would even spark a few more budding brew masters to give it a go.  A brewery in every neighborhood? Yes, please. 

—Image [9] courtesy of Shutterstock.

Follow assistant editor Chris Outcalt on Twitter at @chrisoutcalt.