From TheNewsTribune.com:

The beer board, approved last week by the state Legislature, seeks to bring together the 80 or so Washington breweries that produce up to 100,000 barrels a year and develop marketing plans to get the word out to beer drinkers worldwide.

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To fund the commission’s work, beermakers must agree to tax themselves 10 cents per barrel up to 10,000 barrels, or $1,000.

Not all brewers are on board.

Fish Brewing Company in Olympia brews about 8,000 barrels a year, which means the new tax will cost it about $800 for promotion and marketing the company already does for itself.

“This is a typical evil-empire move,” said Lyle Morse, president of Fish Brewing Company in Olympia.

Morse is concerned the new state beer board will benefit only the larger brewers, such as Pyramid Brewing in Seattle.

“This beer commission means diddly squat to us,” Morse said, “and it’s just another thing to tax us on.”