Malt beverages bill is brewing through the state government

June 6, 2023 | Tyler Garnet
tgarnet@thereminder.com

Josh Britton (left), Caleb Hiliadis (right). and David Slutz (middle) testifying on behalf of the malt beverages bill on May 15 in front of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.
Reminder Publishing screen capture

State Rep. Jon Zlotnik (D-Worcester) has been working on an act relative to the sale of malt beverages produced by a pub brewery since 2015.

State Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) has also co-sponsored the bill.

Under the current law, pub breweries are not allowed to self-distribute their product and must go through a distributor instead of being able to supply it directly to other restaurants or package stores.

The proposed bill would allow a pub brewer to sell malt beverages produced by the pub brewery at wholesale to any person holding a valid wholesalers’ and importers’ license and other establishments in either kegs, casks, barrels or bottles.

Zlotnik said he got involved in trying to help resolve the issue after getting involved with a pub brewer in Gardner.

Zlotnik said, “They are some of the smallest players in the alcoholic beverage industry. Most of them are single locations and pretty small in terms of the amount they brew. Because having the pub brewer license, they don’t have the ability to self-distribute the way every other brewing license can. They have to immediately go with a distributor.”

Proposed in the bill is a limit to how much a brewery can self-distribute, which is the same limit that is currently in the statute for farmer brewers.

According to the proposed bill, annual sales should not exceed 50,000 gallons.

“We think it makes sense to give those license holders an option to do some level of self-distribution while also recognizing that the way the system is built should have some sort of brakes on it,” Zlotnik added.

The bill has received as many as 30 co-sponsors in certain sessions and more favorable votes in other sessions but has yet to been passed.

Zlotnik said, “Understandable so, there is always a healthy amount of skepticism to change anything regarding liquor laws and I understand that. It is a little bit of a balancing act to make sure there is consumer choice but also consumers are protected and the way the regulatory framework in Massachusetts is built around alcohol is designed create a control safe and commercial vibrant ecosystem.”

House Bill 401 was sent through the House of Representatives and Senate in February and was referred to the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.

Zlotnik said, “Last session it was reported favorable. We are in talks with the committee to see what we might be able to do to make additional changes to make the bill more palatable and hopefully be able to advance the bill out of committee again this session.”

Vanished Valley Brewing Co. co-founder and Head Brewer Josh Britton said this bill can be very important for breweries in Massachusetts.

Britton said he went to Boston on May 15 to testify this bill during a hearing with the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure alongside Caleb Hiliadis from Amherst Brewing Company and David Slutz from Moby Dick Brewing Company.

“The main reason we are supporting this bill is so we can take care of Western Massachusetts and our accounts,” Britton said.

He added, “We desperately need this bill to be passed and not in the regard that we need it because we want to open a distribution company. Pub brewers are not going to open a distribution company. That is a whole different animal. We would love to be able to take care of our backyard and our community.”

Britton said that Vanished Valley is very close with the Ludlow community and would love to be able to provide their product to them in a more efficient way.

“Package stores and restaurants are calling us up and asking if we could get a keg of this or a couple cases of this and what we then have to do is turn it around and send that request to our distributor who then has to process the order and put it through, and it has to go through them. For example, if someone requests a keg of Pomona from Vanished Valley, I must send that keg down the pike to our distributor where it is going to sit in a warehouse for two days and then it is going to hop in a truck back to Western Massachusetts to that restaurant or that package store,” Britton explained.

Britton added that not only will the bill give breweries a better opportunity to serve its community, it will also shrink the sale cycle so customers will get the product a lot quicker and cut down the energy costs in terms of the trucks making multiple trips with the same products.

Vanished Valley used to have a farmers brewers license which allowed them to produce malt beverages and sell or deliver them out of their facility directly to bars, restaurants and package stores. At the time, the brewery operated in a small building behind the now closed Europa restaurant.

When Vanished Valley expanded to include a restaurant at the former Europa, it had to change their license to a brew pub license.

This allowed Vanished Valley to serve food and beer in its building but prohibited it to self-distribute the beer.

According to Britton, there are approximately 320 breweries in Massachusetts with only about 26 of them having a brew pub license.

He thinks if the bill is passed, it would not have a big impact on the current distribution of beer products that are already permitted to happen.

Britton said, “I think the distribution industry is concerned that they are going to take a whack but in the big scheme of things they are not going to really take that big of a whack because there is only 26 of us. What bad is it going to do by allowing us to self-distribute a portion of our barrelage every year.”

Britton said that this bill has been knocked around for a few years now with not a lot of movement but over the last few months has made it the furthest it has ever made it for consideration.

Britton said that state Rep. Aaron Saunders (D-Belchertown) and Oliveira have been a huge help in trying to get the bill passed along with the Massachusetts Brewers Guild.

Oliveira said, “This legislation is about economic development for our small businesses in Massachusetts. It will not only provide more options and better prices for consumers but more opportunities for breweries to grow their business and customer base.”

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