Congress' landmark tax reform legislation included an act expected to bring some benefits to Alabama's brewers and distilleries.

Folded into today's action on Capitol Hill was the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, which lowers the federal excise tax for breweries.

According to Dan Roberts, executive director of the Alabama Brewers Guild, the act cuts the federal excise tax in half from $7 per barrel to $3.50 for the first 60,000 barrels. That rate affects domestic brewers who producing less than 2 million barrels annually.

It also reduced the tax rate to $16 per barrel on the first 6 million barrels for all other brewers and all beer importers. The previous rate was $18.

The act maintains the $18 per barrel rate for producers of more than 6 million.

For distillers, the news is even better. The rate goes from $13.50 per proof gallon on the first 100,000 gallons to $2.70 per proof gallon, a reduction of about 80 percent, Roberts said.

The reductions, written as a two-year provision, have been an aim of the Alabama Brewers Guild for about 10 years, Roberts said. He believes it will stimulate economic growth.

"It means immediate savings for Alabama's 34 small brewers," Roberts said. "The margins are relatively low and this really affects their long-term profitability. That's money they can reinvest in their businesses, expand and hire more workers."

Bob Pease, president and CEO of Brewers Association, said the measure had bipartisan support. Craft breweries contribute about $616 million to the Alabama economy, according to the association.

James Foley, managing partner of Fairhope Brewing Co., said his company is considering a 12 percent capacity expansion as a direct result of the act's passage.

"This is a welcome relief that will enable us to invest in our team and grow our production," he said.

Roberts said the act had the support of Sen. Luther Strange and Reps. Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, and Mike Rogers, as well as 54 Senate and 303 House colleagues who co-sponsored the bill.