The biannual draught beer tax rise will be the biggest increase in three decades and will likely hit pub goers amid widespread rising costs of living.

Award-winning Ballarat brewery Red Duck, which also has a gin brand, is under the excise threshold to be directly impacted by change.

At the same time, this comes with added pressure from supplier and transport costs.

Red Duck co-owner Scott Wilson-Browne said beer prices going up as a whole could, in a way, help small business.

"It's really hard for small brewers to put prices up because it's such a competitive market against the big guys," Mr Wilson-Browne said.

"It is also ingrained in the beer drinking community that beer should be a low price point - that's hard when you're selling a premium product."

As a country brand, Mr Wilson-Browne liked to take Red Duck on the road. He spoke to The Courier from Hamilton Sheepvention on Monday.

Transport costs and fuel levies continue to prompt Mr Wilson-Browne to look at pricing for his product in a market with little room to move.

The Australia-wide beer tax will jump from $53.59 per litre of alcohol to $55.73 with kegs to become about $4 more expensive, about $74, and slabs to jump about 80 cents in price.

This could equate to paying about $15 for a pint at the pub.

Australians already pay one of the world's highest tax rates on beer. The tax is linked to consumer price index and when inflation goes up, so does the tax.

It is brewers who have to pay the tax when they brew the beer but many will be forced to pass the costs down the line, to the pub or bottle shop and then onto the consumer.

For the past year, small brewers have been able to access a 100 per cent rebate on the excise. Mr Wilson-Browne said the difference could mean the chance to employ another worker to help his business grow.

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Brewers Association of Australia chief executive officer John Prescott remains calling for some beer relief.

Mr Prescott said the "hidden tax" would hit drinkers most.

The excise increase kicked in from August 1. This tax rate is raised twice a year.

Some brewers estimate the excise can equate to about half the brewing costs for packaged beer.

Mr Prescott acknowledged new federal treasurer Jim Chalmers had inherited the excise tax issue from the previous government but said there was "a strong case" for beer tax relief in the coming budget.

Mr Chalmers would not commit to an excise cut.

"We listen respectfully to ideas put to us but having inherited a trillion dollars in debt and with lots of other pressures on the budget it's not possible to fund every one of them," Mr Chalmers said.

- with Glen Humphries

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