Brew Talks Denver 2023 - The Colorado Agenda: The Issues Facing Colorado Brewers

Zoey Lacata [00:12] Hello everybody. Welcome to our final brew talks of 2023. Very exciting. I am Zoey Lacata. I am a reporter for Brewbound, and we're gonna kick things right off here, um, but first I wanted to give a very special thanks to Dogfish Head, our presenting sponsor who helps make all these brew talks happen and puts these beverages in your hands. So thank you to them also to our, uh, yes, round of applause for Dogfish Head. Uh, I also wanna thank our other sponsors Reyes, Encompass, and e-premise for also helping make this happen. So we have a familiar face to the Brewox Denver stage up with us who's gonna kick things off. We have Shawni Adelson who is the executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild. A lot the some of the profits from this event go to the local guild from wherever we hold it, so we wanna check in and see where is that going and what's happening in the environment of where we are. So welcome

Speaker 2 [01:11] back. Thanks,

Zoey Lacata [01:12] Zoey, yeah. Um, I think the best way to kick off this conversation is looking back at when we talked last year on the stage, you said the Colorado craft breweries were recovering but still in recovery. What is the status of them today?

Speaker 2 [01:28] Um, I think it depends on the brewery honestly. Um, we've seen a lot of our taproom breweries almost fully recover, um, but as you guys have covered, Bart Watson's midyear report came out showing that, um. It's a picture of craft beer that's not growing and maybe shrinking slightly and although that's a national um assessment that is kind of what's happening in Colorado, um, so if you look at all beer excise taxes in Colorado, um, we've actually decreased 1% since 2019 granted that is all beer, um, and if you look at the first six months, um, of this year compared to 2019 we're down actually 3%. But I want to put a caveat there is that in 2019, that's when beer went into grocery. So those numbers may be slightly inflated, um, so it may not just be due to recovery, the pandemic, um, consumer shifting.

Zoey Lacata [02:28] Another thing we talked about on stage last year was openings and closings and openings were outpacing and there's a lot of uh craft breweries in Colorado who were reinvesting in the area they're putting second locations out. What does that look like now? Is that still happening?

Speaker 2 [02:43] Yes and no. I would say no to start with is that we actually have less breweries in Colorado right now than we did at the beginning of the year, unfortunately. Um, but that's only a couple, so it's very small. Um, and we are still seeing breweries open up second locations. Uh, Left Hand, I think they're here. Um, they opened up their second location in Rhino just after GABF last year, and we're about to see Pro. Open up a very large production facility just north of here. Four Noses is about to open up another tap room as well. And then we also still attract national brands. Brewdog is opening up a pub here later this year too, so you see kind of like a yes and no again.

Zoey Lacata [03:22] So there's still some development happening. There's still some exciting new openings happening, um. We also talked a little bit about some legislative moves last year and one thing that happened since we last talked was that wine can be sold in grocery stores. Has that had any impact at all on beer on shelf sets at all?

Speaker 2 [03:39] Shelf sets so far, no. um, I would say yes on more floor displays, but no on actual cold, um, shelf sets. Shelf sets just like anywhere around the country, they are being diminished or changed due to Beyond Beer products, um, so that would include, you know, your hot waters, seltzers, etc. um, things like that. But the biggest change, um, due to wine and grocery is that our small. Non-independent retail liquor stores are really struggling. And what that means for our smaller breweries that can't get into grocery is that they are also selling less beer. And even those that are selling in retail liquor stores are selling less beer there. Um, so it is shifting consumers buying habits, and it does have an impact on beer being sold through grocery or retail liquor stores, unfortunately.

Zoey Lacata [04:31] It's important to know that you know even when things are going on outside of just beer itself it could still have some impact on the on the segment. Um, another thing that's happening that we very briefly touched on last year was that the Colorado Department of Revenue's liquor code review is coming up. It's due in December. That's kind of a big overview of everything that's happening in Beev Vel in Colorado. Do you have any expectations of what's gonna come out of that or anything people should be aware of?

Speaker 2 [05:00] Yeah, I could talk at length about this topic, but you guys would be bored to tears. But I know people in the audience have been part of this conversation. I've sat in hours and hours and hours of meetings. Um, we are at a point where that review and that report is coming forward, and we expect to see a report that would instigate some legislation next year at the state level. And so a couple of things that may impact brewers are, um. Changes to how retail liquor stores can do tastings. So it would expand the amount that they could do and the hours that they could do, as well as allow them to do paid educational classes using alcohol, um, which they can't currently do. And let me just make sure I don't forget all of these. It would, there are other items that we expect to see. would be for the ability of manufacturing breweries in Colorado to be able to have a production facility off-site within 10 miles of the licensed facility without another license. And this is something that's allowed for wineries right now, um, and the TTB does allow it federally. So we're just trying to align with the federal there. Um, similarly, we, we're hoping to see that there would be the ability for manufacturing breweries to have multiple sales rooms under one license. Currently in Colorado, wine and spirits have that privilege, and beer does not. So each brewery that you go to in Colorado has a separate and distinct license, unlike some other states. Um, and then a couple other smaller items right now, you can't buy off-premise on Christmas Day. So you can go to your taproom and drink there, but you can't buy a six-pack to go, and all of our liquor stores are closed. The proposal is to allow for Christmas Day off-premise sales. Um, so you know, an old one that's still on the books, uh, and then finally, um, one of the most contentious things that we talked about as a group is direct to consumer shipping for beer. I'm sure that's something that all of you guys are aware of, um, how that may impact you, but currently in Colorado only wine could do that, and there is a proposal potentially to allow for, uh, beer and spirits to also do that.

Zoey Lacata [07:08] Is there anything that breweries need to do at all before this happens? Is it kind of just like a wait and see?

Speaker 2 [07:14] Currently a wait and see, but we will have some of our state legislators at GABF today and Saturday. So if you're a Colorado brewer and you see me walking around with people, come say hi. Tell them if any of these things you want changed, let them know because they will be reading that report, um, and then we'll engage all of you next year during legislative session.

Zoey Lacata [07:33] Exciting stuff. A lot going on in Colorado. Um, and we're gonna dive into it even more in our panel discussions, and we'll have a regional focus panel later today. Let's end this conversation and you know, everyone here, we're here because we're also supporting the guild, but if there's other ways for people who want to support the guild or support local craft beer, what's the best thing for them to do?

Speaker 2 [07:56] Um, the number one way to support the guild is support breweries, make sure they thrive, go to their tasting rooms, buy their beer. There's a lot of events this week. Check out those. Events, um, we currently have a state of craft beer tap takeover at Oscar Blue's Grill downtown that's walking distance from the convention center. There's about 30+ Colorado craft beers on draft there, so go grab one of those when you have a break and then finally come say hi to us at our United by Beer booth with 10 other state guilds there.

Zoey Lacata [08:28] It's a lot going on, so everyone go follow all of that support Colorado Kraft, support the guild, everyone, big round of applause for Shawnee. Thank you again for joining us on stage.

Speaker 2 [08:39] Thank you, Zoey. It's always fun to be here.