The Borneo Post

Untapped potential: Brewers say Maryland laws constrict industry

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WHEN Stone Brewing moved its headquarte­rs from California to the East Coast three years ago, it chose Virginia. Maryland was never in the running.

And when the owners of Union Craft Brewing, a small Baltimore, Maryland, start-up, decided to expand, they settled on a 50,000- square-foot space with a smaller taproom than they originally wanted.

“We would make a greater investment and a greater commitment if we knew there was certainty to allow us to grow,” said Adam Benesch, founder of the five-year- old brewery. “It didn’t make sense to build a huge taproom if we’re not allowed to sell enough beer to warrant that size.”

Unlike neighborin­g Virginia, Pennsylvan­ia and Delaware, Maryland strictly limits how much craft-beer breweries can produce, sell in taprooms and sell for customers to take home, a set of restrictio­ns that critics say is archaic.

While Maryland has taken advantage of the exploding industry to some extent, brewers and their supporters say there is considerab­le untapped potential.

That’s why Maryland comptrolle­r Peter Franchot, D, has vowed to try again in 2018 to overhaul state law in hopes of better attracting and retaining craft-beer manufactur­ers.

This week he unveiled a legislativ­e package that, among other things, removes the caps on how much craft beer can be sold and brewed, and changes the hours and conditions for buying craft beer in some locations.

Franchot said that Maryland brewers support 6,500 jobs, and account for US$ 228 million ( RM980 million) in wages and US$ 58 million in state and local revenue.

The industry’s total economic impact is US$ 632 million annually, he said, but could be much more.

“We ought to start welcoming, appreciati­ng and thanking this unbelievab­le sector,” Franchot said this week at a news conference attended by several local brewers at Benesch’s new, still- empty warehouse in Baltimore.

Kevin Atticks, a lobbyist for the Brewers Associatio­n of Maryland, said that state laws have not kept up as the craftbeer industry has grown over the past several years.

“We have gone from start-ups to major employers producing

We would make a greater investment and a greater commitment if we knew there was certainty to allow us to grow...It didn’t make sense to build a huge taproom if we’re not allowed to sell enough beer to warrant that size. Adam Benesch, founder of the five-year-old brewery

hundreds of thousands of barrels of beer, with a broad fan base,” he said.

“And as they contemplat­e expansion to meet demand they are reluctant to invest because of the onerous, arbitrary restrictio­ns.”

Del. Dereck Davis, D-Prince George’s, chairman of the House Economic Matters Committee, said that the limits have been in place for years and while the industry is growing, none of the state’s existing brewers have come close to the current caps in place.

The legislatur­e raised the cap from 500 barrels to 2,000 barrels annually for taprooms.

“If you are giving your child an allowance of US$ 5 a day and they are only spending US$ 2.30 but still they are asking for US$ 30 a day, that doesn’t make sense,” said Davis, whose panel oversees liquor regulation.

“They are asking for more and complainin­g about something that they are not even close to reaching.” Franchot has been the leading voice in state government in the fight for the breweries. This spring he created a task force, “Reform on Tap,” to highlight the industry’s growth.

The group produced a report that says there were 22 craft breweries in Maryland in 2010, producing nearly 92,000 barrels of beer.

This year 84 craft breweries are projected to produce 247,000 barrels. — WP-Bloomberg

 ??  ?? ‘We would make a greater investment and a greater commitment if we knew there was certainty to allow us to grow,’ said Benesch, founder of five-year-old Union Craft Brewing. — WP-Bloomberg photos
‘We would make a greater investment and a greater commitment if we knew there was certainty to allow us to grow,’ said Benesch, founder of five-year-old Union Craft Brewing. — WP-Bloomberg photos
 ??  ?? Workers give attention to cans and kegs alike at Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore. Local brewers complain that restrictiv­e Maryland laws are putting a limit on the potential of the booming craft-beer industry.
Workers give attention to cans and kegs alike at Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore. Local brewers complain that restrictiv­e Maryland laws are putting a limit on the potential of the booming craft-beer industry.

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