Posts by Michelle McGrath
American Cider Association Member Updates for April 2018
We know how important industry statistics are to you and the rest of the cider community. We’ve been busy working to bring you the highest potential possible from our partnership with Nielsen. We’re excited to have several updates for our members about this partnership:
- Nielsen is extending a special packaging design offer to our active members with a multi-pack product (4- or 6-packs). This is an opt-in model-group study and thus costs 90% less than an independent study. On top of that savings, as an active member, you will receive a $300 discount to take part. Contact Nielsen by APRIL 12 to sign up. Want to learn how this audit will help launch your brand to next level? Read more here. To ensure that these benefits are reaching the industry members paying for their appropriate membership type, we will only be offering the Nielsen opt-in study to our active cidery-level members. If you are a member at the Home-Cider Maker or Cidery-in-planning levels and wish to participate in the discounted audit, please contact us to update your membership.
- On April 26, Nielsen is offering an encore webinar on the 2017 market trends. This will be like the CiderCon encore webinar offered last year except with current data. The webinar link will go out to our members with active, paid-up accounts.
- We will have the first annual report of on- and off-premise trends available to members shortly. This exclusive benefit includes an executive summary and in-depth spreadsheets from Nielsen containing on- and off-premise data for 2017. The data is broken down by aggregate national and regional brands as well as by total US market and regional markets. We will be sharing an option for subscribing to quarterly reports at the time of this first report’s release. Stay tuned!
These benefits are exclusively for our members. We deeply appreciate the critical support members like you provide us. Together, we can grow our voice and our resources to aggressively and strategically promote our innovative, apple-centered industry–a booming industry at that, with 30% growth of regional cider brands in 2017. American Cider Association is doggedly pursuing benefits like these to help our members succeed. Expect more to come.
Please log in to your account to make sure that your membership for John Doe is up to date. This will allow you to take advantage of these benefits. If you are an employee at John Doe, make sure you are linked to their account–the membership bundle admin at your company can log in and add you for free. If you need any assistance updating your membership, contact Ellen.
Exclusive Member Savings with Nielsen: Package Design Audit
Nielsen is extending a special packaging design offer to our active members with a multi-pack product (4- or 6-packs). This is an opt-in group study and therefore costs 90% less than an independent study. On top of that savings, as an active member, you will receive a $300 discount to participate. Contact Nielsen by APRIL 12 to sign up.
This audit will help you:
- measure the performance of your current cider packaging.
- have your designs evaluated among 500+ consumers within a competitive context.
- identify areas of brand strength and opportunities.
Want to learn more about how this audit will help launch your brand to next level? Read more here.
Have more questions? Check out this FAQ!
Is your membership up to date? Log in to find out. In an effort to ensure that these benefits are reaching the industry members paying for their appropriate membership type, we will only be offering the Nielsen opt-in study to our active cidery-level members. If you are a member at the Home-Cider Maker or Cidery-in-planning levels and wish to participate in the discounted audit, please contact us to update your membership.
Thanks for being a member so we can continue to offer special benefits like these!
Important Membership Announcement: Bylaw Amendments
This is a notice that the board will ask the membership to vote on suggested bylaw amendments at the next annual meeting. The vote shall take place during the annual membership meeting at CiderCon at the Waterfront Marriott in Baltimore, Maryland at 9 AM on February 2, 2018.
American Cider Association’s bylaws have not been updated since their original issue. The organization has grown and matured tremendously since 2014, and revisiting our bylaws is an important next step. We have worked closely with a lawyer who specializes in membership organizations to ensure American Cider Association’s bylaws create a foundation that enables us to serve our membership in the best way possible. The board asks the membership to vote on the following amendments to American Cider Association’s bylaws:
- Synopsis of recommended changes
- Original bylaws with markups of changes
- Amended bylaws with all changes made, no markups
Please contact Bruce Nissen with any questions about these recommended amendments.
CiderCon Bonuses! Part 1
Like cider, CiderCon, is steeped in traditions. Somethings remain unchanged–our national Cider Share, our Grand Toast finale, our welcomed international cider making guests. But what are the bonus features for this year’s CiderCon in Baltimore? The following is part one of our bonus preview!
- We’ve added a VIP hour to Cider Share for distributors and members of the media, with the usual Cider Share to follow. All 54 cidery spots are taken at this point, but there is plenty of room for cider tasters!
- We’ve added Nielsen as our keynote speaker. You may recall our new partnership with them to bring relevant market data to our membership. We look forward to hearing more about the trends they’ve revealed.
- We have great cider tours lined up. Read more about the optional trips to DC, Adams County, PA or Frederick, MD here.
In addition to the traditional free workshop offered by TTB (this year they will review operational reports), There are some new optional workshops being offered on Wednesday of CiderCon.
- The Cider Institute of North America’s (CINA) Boot Camp, Wed 8am-2:45pm, $75, lunch included: Come join Cider Institute educators for a sneak peak at the week long courses being taught across the US and Canada. This will be a condensed version of beginning and advanced level coursework that will build upon cider skills and transition into further institute training. Topics include:
- What is Cider and How is it Made? (Peter Mitchell, Cider & Perry Academy)
- Chemistry of Juice and Cider (Brianna Ewing, Washington State University)
- Understanding Cider Faults (Chris Gerling, Cornell University)
- Sensory Analysis and Focus groups (Elizabeth Thomasino, Oregon State University)
- Using oak to your advantage: Barrel aging and fermentation protocol (Ryan Burk, Angry Orchard)
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Keeping it clean. Sanitation and its effects on cider quality (Andrew Byers, Finnriver Cider)
- The Certified Cider Professional Level 1 Exam Preparatory Course, Wed 8am-10am, $40: This workshop covers all the material you need to pass the American Cider Association’s Level 1 Exam. It will be teaching to the new version of the exam, which is geared more towards the service industry than the previous version. Topics include:
- Apples & The Orchard
- Cider Food Pairings
- Cider Making
- Flavor & Evaluation
- Cider Styles
- Keeping & Serving
Sign up for either of these great workshops when you register for CiderCon. Early bird pricing ends on January 15.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
Cider Tax News
Federal alcohol excise tax reform is included in the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Beer, wine, spirits and cider all benefit. What’s in it for cider? The threshold for which a cider maker receives the “Small Producer Tax Credit” has been significantly broadened. Previously, you could only receive this tax credit on the first 100,000 gallons produced and only if you made less than 250,000 gallons a year. But a new credit structure has been developed for both the hard cider tax rate and the wine tax rate (which is the rate fruit cider currently falls under). The following language is from Wine America. If your cider does not qualify for the hard cider tax rate, this structure applies to your product.
“The bill will save all wineries, regardless of size, significant money through an excise tax credit mechanism which reduces the effective rate. For example, while the federal excise tax on table wine will remain unchanged at $1.07 per gallon, there will be a new tax credit of $1.00 on the first 30,000 gallons produced, making the effective tax rate $0.07 (seven cents) per gallon. The tax credit on the next 100,000 gallons produced is $0.90, and between 130,000 and 750,000 gallons produced the tax credit will be $0.535.”
For hard cider, the bill will save cideries money through a similar excise tax credit mechanism. While the federal excise tax on hard cider will remain unchanged at $0.226 per gallon, there will be a new tax credit of $0.062 on the first 30,000 gallons produced, making the effective tax rate $0.164 per gallon. The tax credit on the next 100,000 gallons produced is $0.056, and between 130,000 and 750,000 gallons produced the tax credit will be $0.033.”
This reform was passed on a temporary basis. It will expire on December 31, 2019. American Cider Association is looking at ways to increase our presence in the coalition working to make this permanent and to represent the interests of cider in this process moving forward.
Once the President signs this current version into law, it becomes effective on January 1. That does not give the TTB time to create the regulatory process to implement this law. Cideries will likely receive retroactive tax credits after the regulations are created.
For more information about this law, please visit Wine America’s site, or contact Michelle McGrath at michelle@ciderassociation.org.