Brewbound Awards 2025: Beer Champion of the Year - Oregon Beverage Alliance

Speaker 1 [00:00] I'm here with one of our award winners this year. The Brewbound 2025 Beer Champion of the Year is going to the Oregon Beverage Alliance. And here to talk to us about it is the founder and uh really a leader within the Oregon Beverage Alliance, as well as the founder and CEO of Ramsey Cox Media Relations and Public Affairs. It's Ramsey Cox, welcome,

Speaker 2 [00:21] Ramsey. Thank you so much, Zoe. I've been a Brewbound reader since 2018, and this is such an honor.

Speaker 1 [00:27] Well, thank you for supporting us and thank you. We've, people may not know it, but Ramsey has been pretty instrumental in some other stories that have been on Brewbound, so she's kind of been behind the scenes helping with a lot of coverage. Especially coverage of everything that's been going down in Oregon for the past couple of years when it comes to tax fights and other various legislative fights, and that is why the Oregon Beverage Alliance is this year's beer champion, um, because yet again, you were able to help shut down another, uh, uh, other attempts to Uh, increased taxes in Oregon. Um, so we'll kind of start back at the beginning a little bit. Can you let folks know what even is the Oregon Beverage Alliance and why did you want to create it?

Speaker 2 [01:12] Yeah, the Oregon Beverage Alliance is made up of all brewers, cider makers, winemakers, distillers, and industry partners like distributors and farmers and hospitality in the state of Oregon who frankly want stability and certainty in their tax code. And so that's how we were able to get everybody together. I had been working at The Beer Institute on the federal tax issues, doing media relations and public affairs at the Beer Institute, and when I had to move back out to the Northwest for family reasons, I had gotten to know some of the state lobbyists in the beer industry as well. And one of them, the executive director of the Oregon Beer and Wine Distributors Association, Danelle Romaine, had asked me if I might be able to bring some of that federal playbook to the state capital of Oregon, and I said, yes, that sounds like a fantastic idea. Let's do it. Um, so in 2020 we kind of started building the infrastructure. We got Don't Taxmdrink.org set up. We branded it, um, and we started recruiting coalition members so that we could officially launch in June of 2020, and it's a good thing we did and that we had that that ability to ramp up because in the 2021 legislative session, a lawmaker introduced a 3,000% beer tax increase, uh, which sounds ludicrous because it is, and. Because we had already set up all of that infrastructure and we're ready to hit the ground, we were able to defeat it.

Speaker 1 [02:37] You mentioned that there are folks not just in beer but across beverage alcohol involved with the Oregon Beverage Alliance. Why was it important to have folks in different areas of the industry involved?

Speaker 2 [02:47] Yeah, I mean people can fight over who's stealing an occasion from whom. At a different table, the Oregon Beverage Alliance is single-mindedly focused on maintaining the existing tax rate, and that's how we're able to keep everybody together. And back to that federal playbook, the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act would not have happened if the entire categories hadn't come together around a single bill. Um, tax reform happens in very large packages typically, and at the time every category had their own bill they were shopping. In fact, when I worked on the Hill, beer had 3 different bills that they were trying to pass depending on if you were a big, small, medium. And so the fact that everybody came together on that one piece of legislation is the only reason we were able to achieve that federally. So I brought that same mentality to Oregon as we're stronger together. And again, if we can all agree on this one issue, then let's fight it together.

Speaker 1 [03:43] Yeah, there was, as I briefly mentioned at the top, there was this Oregon task force that was created to kind of talk about some of these things that were happening and what Oregon should do to move forward. And one thing that stood out to me as I was Listening in to those many, many meetings was that there were folks from beer, from cider, from wine that were all there advocating for beverage alcohol and giving a realistic image of what the industry actually looks like and what it provides to the state. So it really was a collaborative effort of not trying to, to kind of say, oh we're better than this one, or maybe these folks should get tax hikes and we shouldn't. It was very much a collective effort.

Speaker 2 [04:23] Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 [04:24] Uh, so, as you mentioned, there have been quite a few, uh, different efforts or attempts to increase taxes for beverage alcohol in Oregon. Those have all been defeated thus far. What has been really key to making sure those don't go further?

Speaker 2 [04:40] Yeah, I'm really proud to say that the Oregon Beverage Alliance in the 5 years we've existed have killed 6 different tax increase proposals, uh, including this year's attempt was an 8% sales tax. Um, and I think in large part that's because Beer, wine, cider, and spirits contribute so much to Oregon's, economy, and identity. We're already the 3rd largest source of revenue for the state. We contribute $17 billion annually in economic activity. So I like to say that beer, wine, and cider. For Oregon is what lobsters are for Maine. It's what peaches are for Georgia. It makes no sense for lawmakers to try and tax to death an industry that puts it on the map. I mean, people come to Oregon from all over the world because of our beer, wine, and cider and spirits, so. I think that that's a large part of our success, and then I also think we're very strategic in the sense that we're, we're year round, even when lawmakers are not in session. This is a sustained effort and it's a lot of work and it's a lot of people in the industry stepping up and showing up, whether that's in media or engaging with lawmakers. And uh yeah, we've. We've sent 40,000 emails to lawmakers in that period of time saying don't tax my drink. So I think that that's, that's probably why we're successful.

Speaker 1 [06:00] That's extremely impressive. It's kind of hard to ignore 40,000 emails. Yes, for sure. So, how, when the, the most recent efforts in the task force happened that it was a mix of finding out information about beverage alcohol and where the money from those taxes go, finding out what is being spent on different sort of um mental health efforts and recovery efforts in Oregon. What specifically was uh or how was the Oregon Beverage Alliance involved in everything going on there?

Speaker 2 [06:33] Yeah, well, and I'm glad you framed it that way because that's what we turned it into. The task force was originally set up to examine how much we should increase beer, wine, and cider taxes, and the bill was also designed so that industry only had 6 out of the 16 voting seats, and we knew it was going to be chaired by the lawmakers. Who's been introducing those ridiculously high tax increase bills? So to say that the deck was stacked against us, uh, is the understatement of the year. So we helped ensure though that all 6 of those seats you mentioned were Oregon Beverage Alliance members and some of our strongest and most active. So it was beer, 2 different beer people, it was 2 different wine. People, it was a cidery and the distributors were represented as well. And so we came knowing that we needed to listen, uh, but also ask a lot of questions to your point because there's a lot of money being flowed into the state from alcohol and not much clarity as to how it's being spent or if it's being spent well, um, so. I also think that the chair made a mistake towards the end of the task force where she opened it up to public comment thinking that she would have this outcry from the public about how we need to be doing more, um, and instead, out of those more than 400 emails that were sent, 87% of them were from Organ Beverage Alliance members. Um, saying, of course, we don't support a tax increase. So, uh, it wasn't luck that the report concluded without making a recommendation of a tax increase. It was a ton of hard work by particularly those six people, um, and I supported them as best I could.

Speaker 1 [08:16] That's quite, it's, it's not always that you see, um, I mean, there are tons of different organizations out there that are advocating for industries, but it's not often that you see that much. Activation from the members themselves is the, what is it about the Oregon Beverage Alliance you think that actually really motivates folks to participate?

Speaker 2 [08:36] I think there's a few things. One, back to, we realize how important we are to the state, so there's a lot of us, um, and then also, I think back to that year-round effort when I'm not helping the lobbyists because I'm not a lobbyist, I'm a communications person, right? Um, I am telling our story and I'm helping the people who are part of the coalition tell their stories, um, because it's really important for us to make an impact and continue to let people in the state know what a great industry this is and how much we're contributing to the state.

Speaker 1 [09:09] So, now that, that, that task force had a report that came out that didn't necessarily give um entirely clear-cut uh recommendations for what should happen. So what, what is the state of things now? What is the Oregon Beverage Alliance's focus on?

Speaker 2 [09:23] Well, that lawmaker, even though the report didn't have a tax recommendation, she spun it to make it sound like, well, there was talk of it and that maybe a sales tax would be less harmful to the industry versus an excise tax. Um, but again, we defeated that bill as well. Oregon does not have a sales tax. It's a pretty unpopular idea. Um, but we're coming up now on what's a short session year. So Oregon, like a lot of states, does an every other year long session, short session because they budget in two year increments, um, and so the short session is really just a clean up job basically, uh, if there's some adjustments that need to get. Made so with that I'm hopeful and optimistic that maybe she takes the time out and doesn't doesn't have a bill again this upcoming year because leadership typically asks lawmakers to really drill down and only introduce top priority things because they only have a month to get stuff done, um, but we'll see, uh, it hasn't stopped her in the past and, uh, we'll, we'll be ready.

Speaker 1 [10:32] What does that look like? What are you guys making sure that you're doing in the meantime?

Speaker 2 [10:37] Um, we hold coalition meetings, uh, when we're not in session, it's less frequent. So right now we're meeting on a monthly basis, and it's an opportunity for us to strategize and share intel and come up with other ideas of ways we can tell our stories better, um, so that we're gearing up, uh, and back to that recruitment too. Uh, the more spokespeople I can plug into things and help tell our stories, the better off we'll be. Um, so it's, it's just prepping and making sure that we're ready for anything so that we're not taken aback. I think where some states make a mistake is having it be more of a whack a mole situation, like, oh no, something just got introduced, so now we have to set up all of this stuff and get ready. We already are ready and that's what's helped make a big difference for us.

Speaker 1 [11:25] Well, I know industry members in Oregon are really appreciative that. You folks are there to kind of spearhead those efforts and make sure people are prepared. So I'm really excited that we got to name you guys beer champions of this year, and I know we're gonna be paying a lot of attention to, to your fights moving forward.

Speaker 2 [11:42] Thank you so much, Zoey. Again, we're super proud and honored.