PUNISH THE VIOLATORS, NOT THE INDUSTRY

Here’s Your Chance to Support Your Local Brewer

By Bill Schneider, 8-04-08

I’ve been on the Montana Beer Trail for six months now, visiting 19 of our 24 microbreweries so far and writing profiles of their business operations for the Microbrew Montana series currently running on NewWest.Net and the Travel Montana website.

Besides being constantly reminded of the passion the brewmasters have for their product, I’ve been amazed how well this micro-segment of our economy is faring in the face of today’s economic downturn. All Montana microbreweries are all running profitably at capacity, experiencing double-digit growth, or doing major expansions. Three new breweries opened in 2007.

So why does the Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) want to knock down the microbrewing industry? Has it been too successful?

Microbreweries are a current focal point of the “buy local” dynamic and the taprooms have become incredibly popular neighborhood gathering places akin to the pubs of Great Britain. Patrons become attached to their local brewery, which is something the DOR and State Legislature might soon discover.

All this success is, sadly, interpreted as lost business by the some owners of casinos and taverns. Having some serious experience with tasting rooms, I question this logic. Actually, I strongly suspect most people frequenting taprooms rarely if ever go to the smoke-filled casinos. Instead, tasting room customers like the friendly, smoke-free atmosphere without the dim clatter of gaming machines.

If I owned a casino, I’d pick up on this market trend and start trying to attract some of the craft beer-drinkers filling up tasting rooms. The brewers have already given them the product, all that fantastic Montana-made microbrew, but even though taproom goers can buy the same beer in some taverns, often at a lower price, they still opt for the tasting room experience. What does this say?

I’ve been known to frequent Montana taverns here and there. When I do, I always ask the same question: What do you have on tap that’s made in Montana? Usually, I get a blank stare from my server. What does this say?

For tavern owners, I’ll answer both questions. The Budweiser Age is ending. Don’t be like the auto companies. Change before it’s too late. Support the craft brewers instead of fearing them.

But that’s not what’s tavern owners want to do. Instead, taverns want to further restrict the already severely regulated taproom operations by usurping the legislature’s job of writing laws.

On Thursday at 1:30 pm on the fourth floor of the Mitchell Building in the Capital Complex in Helena, DOR officials might find out how important local breweries are to a lot of people. Hearing officer Cleo Anderson will hear testimony on a proposed administrative rule change that would cut sales in taprooms by forcing them close instead of stop serving beer at 8 pm.

Currently, the law does not say, taprooms must close at 8 pm, only that they can’t serve beer after 8 pm and some brewers allow patrons to finish a beer purchased before 8 pm. The proposed new rule would prevent consumption of beer after 8 pm.

Tavern owners must close precisely at 2 pm, so they think taprooms should be like taverns, but isn’t that the whole point? Taprooms are not taverns.

In talking to brewers, I’m hearing that the rule change could cut out as much as 25 percent of their taproom sales, and almost every brewer believes--and has repeatedly said in the articles I’ve written so far--that taproom sales keep the boat afloat. Most say their business wouldn’t exist without these direct-to-consumer sales allowed by a law passed in 1999.

So why after nine years is this suddenly an issue for tavern owners?  I went out to the DOR offices and asked the staff that question. I heard that some tavern owners have called and complained, particularly about a couple of taprooms that have live music and stay open later to let customers enjoy the local tunes, even though there is no beer sold after 8 pm.

But there is not one single written complaint in the file from any tavern or citizen about any violations of any brewer or the system we now have, which, incidentally, need loosening, not tightening. Brewers really need to be allowed to keep their taprooms open and serve beer until 10 pm especially in summer months when people, both residents and a growing number of tourists seeking local microbrew, don’t get off the river or trail or golf course until late in the day, too late to make it to the taproom. They could go to a casino, of course, but again, a growing number of people aren’t interested in casinos and traditional taverns.

Nonetheless, with less than two weeks notice, Montana brewers received the proposed rule change. Now, the brewmasters are hopping mad and will be massed in that conference room telling the DOR at least three things the agency needs to know: (1) small breweries are already too restricted, (2) an administrative rule is not supposed to change the law, and (3) if there is one rogue brewer out there, punish that company, not the entire industry.

Most if not all brewers religiously follow the letter of the law. If you don’t believe me, go to any taproom and try to buy a beer at 8:01pm, even at triple the price, and you’ll go home thirsty.

If there have been violations, you’d think they’d be noted in the files. And even if written complaints have come in, it seems much better for DOR to investigate and punish the offender, not the compliant, and in the process, darken a bright spot in Montana’s economy. Some taprooms don’t even stay open until 8 pm, but because a few allow beer purchased before 8 pm to be consumed after 8 pm, should we knock down the entire industry?

Here’s your chance to support your local brewer. Contact DOR and not only ask the agency to leave the current law as is, but consider supporting legislation to allow taprooms to stay open and sell beer until 10 pm.

To support your local brewer, give your comments to Cleo Anderson, Department of Revenue, P.O. Box 5805, Helena, MT 59604. Email: canderson@mt.gov. Phone. 406-444-5828. The hearing record on this rule change stays open until August 15.

Also, feel free to sign an online petition on grizzlygrowler.com, a terrific website put up by Timothy Alex Akimoff. He already has 712 names on the petition, which was orginally written by Dave Ayers of Glacier Brewing in Polson. You can add yours by clicking here.

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