(a) Except as provided in (c) of this section, every brewer, distiller, bottler, jobber, retailer, wholesaler, or manufacturer who sells alcoholic beverages in the state or who consigns shipments of alcoholic beverages into the state, whether or not the alcoholic beverages are brewed, distilled, bottled, or manufactured in the state, shall pay on all malt beverages (alcoholic content of one percent or more by volume), wines, and hard or distilled alcoholic beverages, the following taxes:

(1) malt beverages at the rate of $1.07 a gallon or fraction of a gallon;

(2) cider with at least 0.5 percent alcohol by volume but not more than seven percent alcohol by volume, at the rate of $1.07 a gallon or fraction of a gallon;

(3) wine or other beverages, other than beverages described in (1) or (2) of this subsection, of 21 percent alcohol by volume or less, at the rate of $2.50 a gallon or fraction of a gallon; and

(4) other beverages having a content of more than 21 percent alcohol by volume at the rate of $12.80 a gallon.

(b) [Repealed, § 3 ch 235 SLA 1976.]

(c) A brewer shall pay a tax at the rate of 35 cents a gallon on sales of the first 60,000 barrels of beer sold in the state each fiscal year beginning July 1, 2001, for beer produced in the United States if the producing brewery meets the qualifications of 26 U.S.C. 5051(a)(2). To qualify for the tax rate under this subsection, the brewer must file with the department a copy of an Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau acknowledged copy of the brewer's notice of intent to pay reduced rate of tax required under 27 C.F.R. 25.167 for the calendar year in which the fiscal year begins for which the partial exemption is sought. If proof of eligibility is not received by the department before June 1, the tax rate under this subsection does not apply until the first day of the second month after the month the notice is received by the department. For purposes of applying this subsection, a barrel of beer may contain not more than 31 gallons.