Joint bill would provide additional revenue opportunities for MN craft beverage businesses across the industry.
Minneapolis, MN: The Minnesota Craft Beverage Council, a collaborative effort of four statewide craft beverage associations, is calling for urgent changes to MN liquor regulation this year at the capitol.
Craft beverage producers, small businesses that make craft beer, wine, cider, and spirits, have been hit hard by service restrictions since the start of the pandemic. Businesses have been forced to lay off employees, dump products, and drain savings; all without significant support from state or federal governments. Now, these businesses are banding together to urge legislators to modernize our regulations to allow craft beverage producers, and our industry partners, to grow and flourish.
“We have all been asking for these changes separately at the capitol for years, and have gotten nowhere,” says Lauren Bennett McGinty, Executive Director of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild. “So we’re coming together to say that we can’t afford to wait any longer. Without significant changes to the restrictions Minnesota places on craft beverage producers, this entire industry is at risk.”
The Council says their proposed legislation is about more than their individual businesses. “This is also about the success of our partners in distribution, liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. This is about agriculture, tourism, and jobs. Craft beverage producers contribute heavily to these industries and their local economies.” The MCBC represents more than 250+ Minnesota craft breweries, brewpubs, wineries, cideries, and distilleries throughout the state.
The Craft Beverage Council’s bill has specific changes to ease regulations on producers of beer, wine, cider, and spirits; changes that the Council says would allow all of these producers to recover some of their losses from 2020 and continue to be a positive force for economic growth and tourism. But there are also proposed changes that would directly benefit liquor stores, bars, and restaurants, as well as the distributors that help facilitate these business relationships.
Some highlights of the proposed legislation include:
- Eliminates the growler cap & allows all breweries to sell beer-to-go in containers up to 64oz (like 4 or 6 packs) with a per-person, per-day limit.
- Allows distilleries to sell alcohol to-go in larger format bottles.
- Allows cideries to self-distribute, aligns cider taxes with existing beer taxes.
- Provides farm and commercial wineries with tax credits beyond 75,000 gallons.
- Allows for bars and restaurants to sell beer, wine, and cocktails to go permanently, and allows liquor stores, bars, and restaurants to fill growlers to-go.
- Cleans up labeling registration requirements.
Opponents argue that changes to Minnesota liquor law and regulation would destroy Minnesota’s three-tier system, and put other businesses at an unfair disadvantage. But advocates say that simply isn’t the case. The Minnesota Craft Beverage Council supports the three-tier system and all of the partner businesses in the industry and argue that growth in one tier creates jobs and growth in all tiers. But they say that Minnesota’s restrictions on craft beverage producers are unique. “Many states have modernized their craft beverage laws without damaging other parts of the alcohol industry. We can see proof of that in neighboring states,” said Tami Bredeson of Carlos Creek Winery and the Minnesota Farm Winery Association. “Modern laws have fostered a boom in entrepreneurism, job creation, tourism and revenue far beyond what we’ve experienced in Minnesota.” The Council is asking all fans of locally-produced craft beer, cider, spirits, and wine to sign onto our petition asking their legislators to support this bipartisan bill when introduced. To sign onto the petition, visit mncraftbevcouncil.org/take-action.