Henniker Brewing Company is a little more than a year old, and this month, could break-even for the first time. That’s good news for investors, but the 5-man operation is still facing some growing pains.

Manager Dave Currier says the beer is good, but the facility needs some improvements.

“Well, as an example, we have two new bathrooms for the tap room that we want to finish,” says Currier, a former Republican state lawmaker.  “And we’ve kind of run out of money in terms of our overall investment, to complete that.”

Currier says $25,000 in new tax cuts could help him do that. 

2nd District Congresswomen Annie Kuster is co-sponsoring the Small BREW Act that would cut the per-barrel tax on beer brewed in small facilities from $7.00 to $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels. She says it will directly benefit the state’s two dozen or so craft brewers.

“The idea behind it is to encourage this type of innovation and growth at the local level,” says Kuster. 

Kuster, a member of the Small Brewers Caucus, says she’s optimistic the bill can pass this year.