Beer Money: New Belgium and Boston Beer

An addendum to the Beer Money series to include two craft giants. What am I talking about? Read this post to find out. All charts below are clickable to enlarge.

Campaign finance, through Q2 2014: $208,400

• 2013-2014 cycle: $107,000
• 2013-14 spending was 51.3 percent of all time amount
  Source

2013-14 Cycle

Individual contributions:

Political Action Committee contributions:

Individual contributions:

Political Action Committee contributions:

2014 Election Cycle (PAC)

• Total Raised: $8,538
• Total Spent: $2,600
• Contributions to federal candidates: $2,600 (all went to Sen. Mark Udall, D-CO)
  Source

Company gave $5,000 to Colorado Democratic Party

Legislation of Interest

Obviously, the Small BREW Act is of significant importance to New Belgium, given it's opportunity to alter the company's taxes, but the company and its Political Action Committee have focused much attention elsewhere, an appropriate fit given New Belgium's mission and goals related to sustainability.

According to public comment records on proposed federal regulations, New Belgium appears 11 times since 2010 on a variety of environmental and agriculture-related issues, from greenhouse gas emissions and the Clean Water Act with the Environmental Protection Agency to the Keystone XL Project with the Department of State. They've also shown interest in hop-related legislation with the United Stated Department of Agriculture.

Campaign finance, through Q2 2014: $199,101

• 2013-2014 cycle: $104,750
• 2013-14 spending was 52.6 percent of all time amount
  Source

Lobbying:

• All time: $770,000
• 2013-2014: $210,000
• 2013-14 spending was 27.3 percent of all time amount
  Source

2013-14 Cycle

Individual contributions:

Political Action Committee contributions:

Individual contributions:

Political Action Committee contributions:

Donations have included:

• Fed Up With Taxes, Maine Ballot Measure Committee: $19,700 (source)
• New York State Republican Party: $2,000 (source)
• Illinois Hotel and Motel PAC: $1,000 (source)

Legislation of Interest

Nothing of note could be found, aside from references to the Small BREW Act and an in-state law to allow for small brewers to switch wholesalers.

You can read more about Jim Koch's personal lobbying efforts in this story.

Beer Money series:

Bryan Roth
"Don't drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life." - Jack Kerouac