While debate rages over whether the recently announced excise rebates will lead to higher profits or cheaper beer, one brewery has gone another way entirely.

Capital Brewing Company’s Community Engagement Manager Dan Watters offers up the first of many cases of free beer.

Canberra’s Capital Brewing Co has today announced it is putting its refund into an initiative aimed at helping the community raise much needed funds.

“What’s the only thing better than good, cheap beer?” asked Capital’s Managing Director Laurence Kain “Free beer for good!”

The company will reinvest the additional $70,000 rebate expected to be formalised in tonight’s budget to create the Good Natured Initiative. Under the program beer and brewery experiences will be made available to community groups to help them generate funds.

“We expect the community will be able to raise well in excess of $150,000 on the back of our donations” said Capital’s Community Engagement Manager Dan Watters.

Dan said the initiative was based on a spur of the moment decision.

“The Treasurer’s office contacted me to ask if they could make the announcement at our Brewery as I was dropping my daughter off at Pre-school last Friday morning, by which time the Daily Telegraph had already dropped the ‘cheap beer’ bomb and it was all over the news,” he said

“Having the Treasurer and Finance Minister in the brewery last Friday for the announcement and then having a few beers with them, really got us thinking about what we could do.

“The idea came to me over the weekend to really build on the work we’re already doing in the community.”

Dan said that since opening its Brewery and Taproom in September last year Capital has already supported more than 60 organisations working in fields such as cancer research, foster care, and women’s refuge.

He said he’s not concerned using the rebate in this way diminishes the benefits the rebate could bring.

“We’re hoping it will have the opposite effect by generating goodwill in the community,” he said

“The announcements made by the Treasurer don’t make a substantial financial difference to the way we currently do business,” he said, while still being open to bringing in smaller kegs etc.

“We crunched some sums over the weekend and figured out we could take $0.02 off every beer we currently make, or we could use the money to help the community raise $150K.

“It was an absolute no-brainer,” he said.

“We’re grateful for both the support of our local community and the fabulous work they do” said Watters. “The best way we can support them is to maximise their ability to raise critical funds for their own organisations.”

In a show of good faith, the brewery will launch the Good Natured Initiative on 1 July 2018, a full year before the tax cuts come into effect. Further details on how community groups can be Good Natured will be released on Capital’s website in June.