Cedartown planners OK alcohol changes Brewery could be 1st beer, liquor producer in state

CEDARTOWN — The city of Cedartown’s changes to the alcohol control ordinance to allow for breweries, wineries and brewpubs need only clear one more hurdle after the planning commission gave their nod of approval to the plan.

City Manager Bill Fann said the board voted unanimously to approve the needed zoning changes that are to be made if the amendments to the alcohol control ordinance are receive a yes vote from the city commission on Dec. 11.

Fann said the changes sought to commercial and industrial zoning to allow for breweries, wineries or brewpubs to operate in the city limits were approved by the planning commission member without any amendments or changes sought.

He said the changes to the city’s alcohol control ordinance will come before the city commission during their final meeting of 2017.

Fann hopes that the changes will attract those brewpubs looking to expand to look at Cedartown as a potential place to invest.

If approved, brewpubs, breweries and wineries would be allowed to operate within the city and produce statesanctioned quantities of beer or wine for wholesale distribution on an industrial scale and for brewpubs a mix of package and in-house sales as well.

The ordinance amendment additionally sets fees to be charged for licenses and establishes areas where brewpubs could operate in commercial areas like the downtown Main Street corridor or along North Main Street as examples. Larger-scale operations would be pushed toward the industrial parks where they would have more room to operate.

Polk County Kevin Myrick, Standard Journal

MARIETTA — The Kennesaw City Council will vote whether or not to allow Dry County Brewing to become the first brewery in the state to also produce liquor. Dry County currently produces a line of craft beers, but they have plans to expand their product line to include spirits.

Dry County’s co-founder Trey Sinclair said the product line has not been finalized, but they plan to begin by producing clear liquors like rum, gin and white whiskey. Those take less time to produce since they do not need to age. Down the road, Sinclair said, the distillery will also sell dark liquors.

Sinclair said if all goes according to plan, the first products could be ready to drink early next year. They will only be available at Dry County’s onsite tasting room, however. Sinclair said they are not planning to go retail in the near future. The company is planning to invest in new equipment for distilling, but the brewery’s footprint will not increase. Sinclair said he hopes getting into the spirits business will help out on the beer side, for example by using barrels that have held aging whiskey to impart extra flavor to beer.

“As a brewery, we already use barrels in our production, as most breweries in the state do,” Sinclair said. “This will open up some interesting and exciting possibilities.”

Before any of those possibilities can become realities, however, the brewery needs approval from the city and state.

Kennesaw’s city staff has reviewed Dry County’s application and the finance department has recommended approval, according to the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting. Sinclair said he hopes state approval will come soon after.

Ross Williams, Marietta Daily Journal