BREAKING NEWS: TTB Approves Additional Wine Standards of Fill

In a special edition newsletter sent to subscribers on December 28, 2020, the TTB announced new rules regarding standards of fill. The additional volumes approved for wine are:

  • 355 ml (12 oz)
  • 250 ml
  • 200 ml

As all ciders are regulated as wine by the TTB, the above sizes are now being added as approved for cider. This means ciders above 7% will be able to be packaged in a 12 oz can or bottle for the first time. Previously, a state exemption was required to package ciders over 7% ABV in 355 ml packaging.

“These new container sizes will provide bottlers with flexibility by allowing the use of the added container sizes, and will facilitate the movement of goods in domestic and international commerce, while also providing consumers broader purchasing options,” the TTB writes in their newsletter.

The TTB newsletter included a final draft of the rule. The rule includes several mentions of submitted commentary from cidermakers and the American Cider Association (ACA) (formerly United States Association of Cider Makers).

An excerpt: “These producers note that, in the production of cider, apples often naturally ferment to an alcohol by volume (abv) level just above 7.4%, so producers often take steps to lower the abv below 7% so that the standards of fill regulations will not apply, enabling them to use 355 milliliter containers. They state that sugar levels in apples vary widely depending on climate and other factors, making final alcohol levels difficult to predict. They argue that being able to use the 355 milliliter container size will eliminate this uncertainty.”

“The ACA government affairs committee worked to make this happen,” said Michelle McGrath, executive director of ACA. “Additionally, so many of our members came together to provide comments. Our united voices made the difference.”

“ACA believes that this will help apple-focused cidermakers and others with packaging flexibility and compliance,” McGrath added.

The addition of 200 ml containers is also a win for US ice cider producers. “This will help our ice cider business, where 200ml has been a traditional ice wine bottle size outside the US for decades, and we have not had access to that format,” said ice cider producer and ACA board member, Eleanor Leger.

“There are many styles of cider, and packaging flexibility will allow us to deliver the right cider to the customer in the right package.  We are excited that we can finally put ciders produced with heirloom and tannic varieties in a more accessible format for customers,” Leger added.

The American Cider Association is grateful to the TTB for providing a platform for industry and public comment. “We are very pleased that the TTB continues to work with industry to evaluate regulation and its relevance to current market conditions,” ACA board President Paul Vander Heide said. “Broadening standards of fill gives our members increased flexibility to serve their customers.”

Cider Tax News

UPDATE: On 12/27/20 President Trump signed the bill making the reform included in the CBMTRA permanent.

On Monday night, Congress took the important step to pass permanent Federal excise tax credits for the nation’s cideries, meaderies, wineries, breweries, and distilleries. The tax reform measures for alcohol producers were originally introduced on a two-year basis in 2017 and renewed for one year late in 2019. The renewal was set to expire on December 31, 2020, but thanks to the inclusion of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) in the most recent COVID relief bill, the excise tax credits are now permanent. The transition from temporary tax bill to permanence was relatively rapid thanks to enormous bipartisan popularity in both the Senate and House of Representatives as well as unprecedented collaboration of cider, wine, beer, spirits, and mead.

The bill removes prior barriers to growth by increasing the defining production threshold of a small cidery or winery and maintaining tiered tax credits as cideries grow and meet those thresholds.

“Many cideries feared exceeding the original small producer threshold. The permanent passage of the CBMTRA removes that fear,” said Michelle McGrath, executive director of the American Cider Association (ACA).

CBMTRA had many Congressional champions that ensured its success including the Senate co-sponsors Senate Finance Ranking Member Senator Wyden (D-OR) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), House co-sponsors Representative Kind (D-WI) and Representative Kelly (R-PA), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Representative Neal (D-MA), House Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

“America’s cidermakers can take a deep breath knowing that not only will their Federal excise taxes not go up on January 1, but the annual cycle of uncertainty regarding those taxes will stay behind with 2020,” said Brooke Glover, vice president of the American Cider Association.

“These tax credits were passed relatively recently, but many new cideries have never known any other way. I’m grateful they aren’t facing a tax increase come January 1. This can provide a bit of much needed confidence to do business in 2021,” said McGrath.

ACA played a supportive role in the craft beverage coalition that lobbied to make the credits permanent.

“Our members have worked hard to host members of Congress at their cideries, visit their offices in DC and participate in collaborative days of action. I was really proud of ACA’s membership,” McGrath said. “We are also extremely grateful to our colleagues in wine, beer, spirits and mead for including us in the beverage coalition.”

The American Cider Association encourages its members to make sure they are taking advantage of these tax credits and to let the ACA know how they are investing the savings. The Association will be rolling out educational resources to explain the nuances of how the CBMTRA benefits cider businesses in the coming weeks.

“Thank you to our members for renewing your membership year after year. Your small annual investment in the ACA has added up to much bigger permanent tax savings for you,” added McGrath. “Cider has a seat at the table. We have increasing numbers of Congressional champions. Our association is working.”

The bill now heads to President Trump for his signature and he is anticipated to sign. In a time when it is desperately needed, the CBMTRA supports jobs, farms and craft manufacturing.

Now Available: Q3 Nielsen Reports

Complimentary custom, quarterly market trend reports are part of your American Cider Association membership. To access these reports at any time, sign into our login page. The landing page is full of helpful tools like our custom Nielsen reports and more.

Just looking to download Quarter 3? Log in and click here.

Q3 Highlights:

  • The impact of the pandemic is stark. On-premise cider sales declined an estimated 40% when comparing 52-week periods and nearly 70% when comparing 12-week periods for the previous year.
  • Total cider was up 10% for Q3 in off-premise channels measured by Nielsen. This does not make up for the massive pandemic-induced on-premise declines.
  • Regional brands drove off-premise growth–up 34% vs national brand declines of 6%.
  • Both on- and off-premise cider sales for regional brands are expected to eclipse national brand sales in Q4.

Find more insights by region, packaging and ingredients in our custom reports.

📣 ACTION ALERT: Renew the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act

Cideries like yours are facing the harsh economic realities of a global pandemic. Congress needs to be proactive in supporting small businesses like yours right now, but they also need to protect you from further economic harm. In a normal year, raising Federal Excise Taxes could significantly damage our industry’s viability. In 2021, raising taxes could force hundreds of cideries to permanently close their doorsJoin us in urging Congress to act urgently and make the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act permanent NOW. 

This will impact all segments of the cider industry. It’s critical we work together in reaching out to lawmakers today or come January 1, your Federal Excise Taxes may go up significantly. 

Please reach out to Congress today and tell them your business needs a break: Make the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act permanent!

Two New ACA Member Benefits

We admire hustle, but we hope that your ACA membership makes cidery life a little bit easier. We have two new benefits we’re eager to tell you about, plus some exciting things to look forward to!

1. 15% Discount off of CiderPros.com Job & Marketplace Listings

We’re honored to be a founding partner in CiderPros.com–a new jobs site for the cider industry. We’re thrilled to extend a 15% discount off of the cost of job and marketplace listings to our members. You can find the coupon code on our members page here (logging in required first step to access). We will update the code from time to time.

2. Cider Press List 101

If you are just ramping up your cider specific media outreach efforts, we’ve got a starter list to get you going. You can access the list here under our Marketing Tools section (logging in required first step to access). Thank you to the ACA Marketing Committee for curating this list for our members!

Need a refresher on best practices for submitting press releases to media? Download this CiderCon 2019 Presentation from media professionals Erin James and Caitlin Braam.

+Benefits in the Pipeline:

We’re excited to launch on-demand training for our Certified Cider Professional program and cider compliance guidelines this fall. We’ll also have some new market insights available soon. Stay tuned!

>Renew Your Membership Today

Are your having a hard time navigating our website to renew your membership? Email us and we can send you a quick invoice with a link to pay with a credit card. We’ve been affected by the COVID pandemic and your renewal today can have a huge impact. We have a small thank you for those who renew early by a month or more.

Q2 Nielsen Reports Ready For Download

One of the perks of combining our buying power as an association is that we can share valuable insights from Nielsen with you, our members.

You can now download our custom Q2 reports. In this data packet you will be able to access:

  • Off-Premise Micro-Reports broken down for packaging type, flavor, and region–14 states and 6 regional outlooks. Available in both a 12-week and a 52-week outlook.
  • Off-Premise Macro-Reports for Beer, FMBs and Cider. Available in both a 12-week and a 52-week outlook.
  • On-Premise Reports for 6 metro markets.
  • Nielsen PPT slide decks with charts, data visualization and insights on the cider category’s recent performance in both On- and Off-Premise.
  • Bonus this quarter: Hard Seltzer off-premise report.

Here is an excerpt from a recent Nielsen survey about current overall consumer sentiment:

CONSUMER SENTIMENT REPORT SUMMARY BY NIELSEN

“Here are some high-level findings from a Nielsen survey of 18K+ consumers, fielded July 1-8, 2020.

  • Since June, we have started to see some consistent trends not only for off premise alcohol, but also across many consumer good categories. That comes to life in consumer sentiment as well. 60% of households expect their routines to remain altered for at least the next 4 months
  • Nielsen has shared insights in the past in several forms about how premiumization within off premise alcohol isn’t slowing down, and has in fact accelerated during COVID weeks. However, when it comes to total consumer goods, we are starting to see more cautious consumer sentiment in relation to spending. Approximately 4 in 10 (42%) of households say they are watching what they spend as a result of COVID.
  • The homebody economy continues. When asked what % of time households eat meals or snacks at home versus outside of home, 39% of households said they ate 100% of their meals and snacks at home. An equal amount (39%) said they ate outside of their home only 10% of the time. As a comparison, when asked what their habits were prior to COVID, only 12% said they ate all of their meals at home.
  • When asked what their plans are for the coming months, close to 1 in 3 households (28%) said they plan to eat all of their meals at home. That of course was lower for younger consumers age 21-34, and much higher for consumers age 65+.
  • What about consumer plans if economic conditions get worse (recession and/or inflation)? When asked about things they would do to save money when shopping for beer or wine, 39% said they won’t change how they shop for it. However, nearly ¼ said they would buy less. That’s a slightly different story for households with lower income (<$30K), which said they would be more likely to stop buying it all together.”