For the second time, New Jersey craft breweries are a signature away from having a stringent set of restrictions on their taproom operations removed.
Both houses of the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 4265 and Assembly Bill 5912, which would allow craft breweries to host “an unlimited number of on-premises special events and private parties,” as well as sell or offer “packaged crackers, chips, nuts and similar snacks” and non-alcoholic beverages.
Breweries will also be able to coordinate with food trucks or restaurants to serve patrons, something that is currently prohibited. Although breweries can work with food service providers, they would be banned from holding food service licenses.
In addition, breweries would be able to “offer discounts for promotional purposes, provide targeted discounts, and establish membership programs that offer discounts.” They would also be able to “show or display any televised program on televisions or other screening devices of any number or size on the licensed premises.”
A rule that required patrons to tour a brewery before enjoying pints or flights in its taproom would also be removed.
SB 4265 would also lift the production cap on restricted brewery license holders – mainly brewpubs, which also hold the same bev-alc consumption licenses as bars and restaurants – from 10,000 barrels to 300,000 barrels. Brewpubs would also be able to distribute 50% of the beer they produce to retailers.
This news may feel like déjá vu because a similar version passed last year, but Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed it last fall. He told lawmakers he wanted to see greater reform to the state’s complicated liquor license system for retailers.
The restrictions were put in place by the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (NJABC) in 2018 in an attempt to strike a balance between the investment retailers made in their licenses and the craft brewing industry’s turn toward own-premise taprooms.
The Brewers Guild of New Jersey (BGNJ), which has been rallying its members and the state’s beer drinkers to draw attention to the harshness of the restrictions, applauded the vote, which was 36-0 in the state Senate and 74-0 with two abstentions in the state Assembly.
“Since the fall of 2018, when the state’s initial special ruling limiting craft brewery activities was issued, culminating in license conditions in July 2022, the industry has put its collective voice and energy towards ending these restrictions to not only stabilize and grow the industry, but provide consumers nationwide the best possible experiences and products we know all New Jersey craft breweries can consistently provide,” BGNJ executive direction Eric Orlando said in a statement.
“Today’s passage of legislation comes at a time when not only breweries, but the state’s entire craft beverage industry as whole, needs a regulatory system which some would say reflects a dichotomy typically not representative of the laws in our state: guidelines that provide both predictability and flexibility,” he continued.
Under the restrictions, which were largely unenforced until July 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, breweries are prohibited from selling food of any kind in their taprooms or collaborating with food trucks or food vendors. Taproom events are limited to 25 special events annually, which include activities considered weekly staples at breweries in other states, such as weekly trivia nights, yoga classes and televised sporting events.
In addition to loosening restrictions on craft breweries, SB 4265 would create a farm-brewery license for breweries producing up to 2,500 barrels annually using “hops or other ingredients grown or cultivated on the license holder’s tract of land.” The bill would also establish a system to transfer inactive retail liquor licenses to new licensees, and create special licenses for eating and drinking establishments within shopping malls.
“Senate Bill 4265 / Assembly Bill 5912 supports the creativity and spontaneity which is hallmark to these small businesses, allowing these qualities to show through in not only the beers they produce, but the atmosphere and culture they wish to create within their breweries and throughout their communities,” Orlando said. “We want to thank our legislative sponsors on both sides of the aisle for their tireless work to achieve today’s results, and hope that this repeated support for legislation to end brewery restrictions is quickly signed by Gov. Murphy this time around hopefully with a toast of some great New Jersey craft beer.”
Murphy has until noon on January 16 to sign the bill into law.
New Jersey ranks 44th in breweries per capita, with 2.2 breweries per 100,000 legal-drinking-age residents, according to the Brewers Association (BA). The state’s 152 craft breweries generated $1.6 billion economic impact in 2022, according to the BA.