Saskatchewan brewers will soon benefit from a new incentive focused on growing production

WATCH: Local beer makers may soon be raising a glass thanks to a new provincial incentive. Angela Stewart reports.

Changes are coming for Saskatchewan’s brewing industry, as the province has announced a new incentive to help small and medium-sized producers of beer increase their output levels.

The changes come in the form of reduced markup rates – intended to encourage Saskatchewan-based breweries to increase the number of beverages they produce daily.

“That’s a good thing for small local breweries of all sorts but especially local breweries,” President CEO of Rebellion Brewing Mark Heise told CTV News. “Small businesses are suffering across Canada right now for a variety of reasons whether it’s tariffs or inflation. It gives us some opportunity to grow and not have to face additional steep taxes.”

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The new rules were rolled out on May 29 by the Government of Saskatchewan.

However, some Regina breweries say it’s a move that may not make much of a difference.

“Increasing it from 400,000 hectoliters, 500,000 hectoliters is a major jump. Obviously, that’s a huge number, but those are capacities that most smaller breweries aren’t going to be running at,” explained Hayden McPherson, who serves as the marketing coordinator for District Brewing Company.

McPherson reiterated that many breweries in the Queen City simply aren’t at the stage of production to take advantage of the changed rules.

“Places like obviously your Great Western and things like that are going to be a lot closer to that mark so it’s going to help them out more get them to produce some more but your local brewers aren’t going to see to much of an effect off of this one,” he said.

“We do about 5,000 hectolitres … that’s equivalent to about a million pints of beer in a year,” he added.

The markup is only applied to products sold in the province and distributed through the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) and third-party warehouses.

“How a given brewery is affected by these changes depends on their current and future production levels,” the provincial Crown outlined in a statement to CTV News.

“It also depends on whether their products are subject to markup, which is applied by SLGA to products sold in the province and distributed through SLGA’s warehouse or through third-party warehouse.”

The markup changes officially take effect July 1.