California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 32

Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

February 25, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 32—Relative to California Craft Brewery Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 32, as introduced, Bloom. California Craft Brewery Month.

This measure would proclaim the month of April 2015 as California Craft Brewery Month.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, California is the birthplace of the craft brewing
movement, when Fritz Maytag acquired the Anchor Brewing
Company in 1965 and began brewing authentic handcrafted beers;
and

WHEREAS, California is the home of the first microbrewery,
beginning with Jack McAuliffe who built a small brewery in
Sonoma from scratch, and began selling New Albion ales in 1977;
and

WHEREAS, The second largest craft brewer in the country,
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, was founded in Chico,
California, in 1979, and spurred the craft brewery movement
around the country; and

WHEREAS, In 1982, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly
Bill 3610 to amend the state’s tied-house laws to remove the
restriction on on-premises sales of craft beer. Following this change
in law, California became home to three of the first five brewpubs
in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The second brewpub in the United States was
opened by the Mendocino Brewery in Hopland, California; the
third brewpub, opened in September 1984, was Buffalo Bill’s in
Hayward, California; and the fifth, opened by John Martin in March
1986, was Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley, California; and

WHEREAS, In 2012, the California craft brewery industry had
an annual impact of $4.7 billion on the state’s economy; and

WHEREAS, As of the end of 2012, the California craft brewery
industry supported more than 45,000 jobs, which in turn create
billions of dollars in positive economic impact; and

WHEREAS, The California craft brewery industry creates more
revenue for the state and federal governments than many other
industries, generating more than $850 million in federal, state, and
local revenues in 2012; and

WHEREAS, California now has more breweries than any other
state in the country, and in fact has more than twice as many craft
breweries as the state within the next highest number, Colorado.
The current count numbers more than 440 small, independently
owned craft breweries. An average of one in every five craft beers
produced in the United States comes from California; and

WHEREAS, California is now known and recognized
internationally for the quality of its craft breweries. Year after
year, Californian breweries win more medals at the World Beer
Cup, the largest international beer competition in the world, and
the Great American Beer Festival, the largest beer competition in
the United States, than breweries found in other states; and

WHEREAS, Brewery tourism is increasingly popular and
contributes to the economic impact of the state’s tourism industry;
and

WHEREAS, The California craft brewing industry is a leader
in the stewardship of natural resources and the environment and
has made a major commitment to implement sustainable practices
that are environmentally sound, including some of the largest solar
arrays in the private sector, and the use of fuel cells and other
innovative conservation techniques and processes; and

WHEREAS, Despite the challenges of intense global
competition, the state’s craft brewery industry is strong and
growing, and is a major contributor to the economic vitality of
California; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims the
month of April 2015 as California Craft Brewery Month; and be
it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.