March 20, 2015
Minnesota’s omnibus liquor bill passed in the Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee. What’s in the bill, you ask? Not a repeal of the ban on Sunday sales (that’s in a separate bill). There are some other significant provisions in the bill and we describe them in more detail in the legal post below.
The bill includes a provision that would allow for Sunday growler sales from Minnesota craft beer taprooms. This could be a boon to growler sales for brewers. If the repeal of the Sunday sale ban does not happen, but brewers can sell growlers on Sunday, they will surely get a lot of business that would otherwise go to liquor stores on Sunday. Imagine a Minnesota where you forget to get some beer on Saturday, but can then go pick up a growler on Sunday before the Vikings kick off.
Another significant beer law provision would permit brewpubs to sell beer to wholesalers for distribution to retailers at the State Fair. This would be the first time a brewpub (like Town Hall, Fitger’s, Northbound Smokehouse, or Barley John’s) could sell to wholesalers. It is a small step in the sense that you could still not get brewpubs’ products in bars or at liquor stores (which we would love to see change), but it’s a step nonetheless.
On the distillery side of things, there is a provision that would permit microdistilleries with cocktail rooms to sell products at off-sale (e.g., for off-site consumption). This would be a big step for small distillers in Minnesota.
Another difficult pill to swallow though, came in the form of a removal of language that would permit non-farm or “craft” wineries to have the same sales opportunities as farm wineries. While it may be disheartening for some wineries out there, the attorneys at Hop Law have some ideas as to how “craft wineries” can use current laws to create additional opportunities that are currently not being taken advantage of, so if you’re interested or know someone who is, we would be happy to chat.