It wasn’t expected to be like this.
Before the 63rd Montana Legislature convened on January 7, 2013, most observers predicted a quiet session for craft beer. The Department of Revenue had it’s brew-on-premise license proposal. A smattering of proposals to provide for true bottle shops and to change direct shipment rules lurked in the fine print.
The Montana Brewers Association planned no new legislation. Even the Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association and Montana Tavern Association (MTA) weren’t making visible waves.
Boy did that change.
After Tuesday’s legislative committee hearing on HB 616 and HJ 18 several committee members said they’d received far more calls, emails and letters on craft beer issues than any other subject during this legislative session.
The firestorm started when word broke (here, I might add) about the MTA’s proposed efforts to craft a bill limiting brewery tap room sales to no more than 10 percent of the brewery’s annual production. While that effort quickly shifted to the background, it reemerged last week as House Bill 616.
HB 616 is not an easy bill to understand. It has immediate benefits for certain breweries which contrast and conflict with immediate negative impacts on others. There’s no denying it would force breweries to change business models and significantly alter the existing and future landscape of craft beer in Montana.
Montana’s quota system for on-premise licenses would be temporarily relaxed, allowing existing breweries to effectively become bars with expanded hours of operation and no volume limitations. For a $100,000 fee, that is. New breweries would not be eligible, thus creating a disadvantage – and disincentive – to continue Montana’s hottest trend.
Breweries declining to purchase the new license, or unable to afford it, would face new restrictions on their ability to sell beer for on-premise consumption. They would be forced to start distributing beer to off premise retailers, something many do not do. Competition for tap space would immediately and significantly increase – tap space which is controlled by the MTA’s members.
In the days leading up to the legislative hearing on HB 616, Montana’s brewery owners were hit with a barrage of lobbying efforts. The Montana Brewers Association worked tirelessly to hold its members (and even non-members) together. The MTA worked just as hard to get breweries to publicly support HB 616. One did.*
Neal Leathers, co-owner of Big Sky Brewing Co., Montana’s largest brewery (closing in on 60,000 bbls of annual production) walked to the microphone during the supporters’ portion of the hearing and articulately explained why he wanted to be able to sell pints at the brewery.
Big Sky is the only brewery in Montana currently prohibited from doing so without going through the odd gymnastics of purchasing a retail license and operating it as a closely held, affiliated business. HB 616 would make that easier. For a $100,000 fee, which Big Sky could absorb far easier than most.
It’s what happened next that proved most interesting.
Before the hearing was over, Big Sky’s facebook page lit up with hundreds of colorful and mostly (very) negative comments about Big Sky’s choice to support HB 616. Big Sky’s explanation, posted a day later, did little to change people’s impressions.
Craft beer fans were watching. They’d tuned in to the streaming video feed from the legislative hearing to watch the action. Some even attended the hearing. When they saw Big Sky offer support, they immediately took to social media to express their opinions. More often than not, they were not the easily dismissed, hollow rants commonly found in cyberspace. They were articulate and educated, demonstrating an understanding of the implications of the bill.
Think the general public didn’t care about HB 616 and its related issues? Op-ed pieces have appeared from all sides in Montana’s largest newspapers. Non-beer blogs around Montana have taken to writing about it. Traffic here is through the roof. The Montana Brewers Association has 6,279 facebook “likes,” a big number in the facebook world. The Montana Tavern Association has zero. Social media isn’t part of their game.
Craft beer is important in Montana. It’s certainly tasty, but it’s also the perfect embodiment of values held by so many: small, local, value-added, innovative, community-minded businesses that provide a place to gather and get social around a pint of beer.
Oddly, it’s Montana’s breweries that most appear to underestimate the dedication and education of craft beer fans.
The MTA seems to get it. It’s the only rational justification for trying to quickly push through a complex bill that isn’t doing them any favors in the court of public opinion. By 2015, the next Montana legislative session, there may well be another 10 breweries operating in Montana.** The MTA knows its ability to unilaterally craft industry changing legislation decreases with every new brewery.
As it turns out, by underestimating the dedication of its fans and the connectivity of social media, Big Sky (and its fellow breweries and the MBA) missed an opportunity to harness a powerful voice in support of proactive solutions that complement, rather than divide the brewing industry. Here’s guessing no one ignores it the next time around.
For all our articles pertaining to the 2013 Montana Legislature, click here.
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*Truth be told, the MTA had direct help from at least one other brewery which appears to be content to sit back and let Big Sky take all the heat. To Big Sky’s credit, they have not publicly mentioned.
** Two to three more are opening this year. Three more are in the planning/financing stages. Several more are in the early development phase.
