A bill to expand to-go sales from Minnesota craft breweries has been paired with a proposed agreement that all parties involved in the legislation’s negotiation – which include organizations representing the state’s craft brewers, wholesalers and liquor stores – would promise to refrain from promoting other alcohol-related laws for five years.
In what the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Editorial Board called “an unusual agreement” written by an attorney for the Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association, craft brewers and distillers would agree not to seek further law changes for half a decade and all organizations involved would have to “actively and publicly oppose any proposal … related to alcoholic beverages” during the moratorium.
“Initially with the bill, it was kind of just a handshake agreement, which is par for the course for a lot of different state capitals,” Bob Galligan, Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild (MCBG) director of government and industry relations, told Brewbound. “It’s not unheard of to take some time, walk away and let everyone know where the bill lies.”
However, committing the five-year pause to paper and asking all involved to sign is “a bit unheard of,” he added. In its existing form, MCBG is unlikely to sign the agreement.
“I have more desire to actually work in lobbying on pushing the bill through than I do on working on a document that’s not necessarily even legally binding, but it’s a reassurance – which I understand some stakeholders want and that’s totally within their rights,” Galligan said. “But as the language stands right now? No, we are not going to sign.”
To gain the guild’s buy-in, the agreement would need to be more flexible in allowing brewers to advocate for their needs if necessary.
“We would just want it in writing that, should another global pandemic happen, we would be allowed to go up to the Capitol and lobby for our membership,” Galligan said. “If anyone introduced any legislation that would actually hinder our membership’s rights, we would go up to the Capitol and lobby against that.”
Additionally, Galligan pointed out that guild members are individuals who shouldn’t be discouraged from expressing political opinions about future alcohol legislation, as prescribed in the proposed agreement.
“They’re citizens so they’re gonna go to their legislators and they’re gonna ask for certain things,” he said. “I can kindly ask them not to, but they run small businesses and everyone needs help, so I’m not going to oppose any of my membership that calls their legislators or checks in with their legislators.”
The bill (H.F. 2767) would raise the annual production volume cap for breweries to sell growlers to-go from 20,000 barrels to 150,000 barrels, and would allow breweries producing fewer than 7,500 barrels to sell to-go an additional 128 oz. in cans per customer per day.
“The bill that is currently in the actual House would allow lifting the growler cap to allow our larger members the ability to sell, and then also our smaller breweries to be able to sell more than just growlers and crowlers,” Galligan said.
Six of the state’s largest craft breweries (Surly, Schell’s, Lift Bridge, Fulton, Indeed and Castle Danger) formed the Alliance of Minnesota Craft Breweries in early 2021 to advocate for the lifting of the growler cap. All are also members of MCBG, which has advocated for advanced off-sale privileges for both larger and smaller craft breweries.
Last month, the Minnesota House of Representatives Commerce Committee passed the bill with a 14-1 vote and sent it to the Ways and Means Committee, which is still reviewing it. The 2022 legislative session will end on May 23, according to the Minnesota Constitution.
The Commerce Committee’s vote marked “the furthest that any liquor legislation has made it in Minnesota in over a decade,” Galligan said. Minnesota’s alcohol laws are more restrictive than most other states. It remains the last state in the country to ban sales of beer stronger than 3.2% alcohol by weight from grocery and convenience stores – a reform left out of the current bill.
Next week, Minneapolis will host the Brewers Association’s (BA) Craft Brewers Conference, which will bring thousands of craft brewery employees to the city, who will likely notice the state’s stricter laws.
“We’re gonna have to explain to all of our friends from across the nation why we can’t sell them a 6-pack yet,” Galligan said.
The Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association did not respond to requests for comment.