The text of the Montana Tavern Association’s proposed bill to restrict brewery tap room sales (or force them to buy a retail license for $100,000) is now available on the Montana Legislature’s website. The bill is currently known as LC 1429 and the text is “unapproved” and subject to change until introduced to the Legislature. …
I think we can all agree Montana’s system of alcohol laws needs work. Montana is not unique in that regard, but the recent efforts by the Montana Tavern Association to hamstring the brewing industry serve to highlight a particularly big schism caused by our laws. That effort hasn’t gone away and the MTA is still…
There is no hotter topic related to beer in Montana now than the (still unrelased) proposed bill to significantly amend the “small brewery exception” afforded Montana’s breweries with annual production of between 100 and 10,000 barrels. The exception permits small breweries to sell up to 48 ounces, per person, per day between the hours of…
HB 524 easily passed the Montana House of Representatives Friday on a 95-2 final vote and should be transmitted to the Senate for it’s consideration soon. HB 524 would remove the grocery store/pharmacy requirement for off-premise retail licenses for beer and wine. Sort of. As originally proposed, HB 524 merely eliminated the grocery store/pharmacy requirement. …
A bill to clearly prohibit patrons from bringing their own alcohol into restaurants and other establishments that do not have an on-premise alcohol license was rejected by the Montana House of Representatives today on a 31-69 vote. Sponsored by Representative Roger Hagan, House Bill 405 easily passed out of committee (17-3), but it wasn’t even…
The 2013 Montana Legislature has made it to the halfway point, known as the transmittal date when most bills must be passed by one branch and sent to the other for further consideration. Those that fail to meet this date are dead in all but the rarest situations . Revenue bills and a couple other…
One of the most heard statements in the taverns versus breweries turf war comes from a variety of tavern owners: “If breweries want to act like bars, they should buy a retail licenses like we had to do.” As explained here, that’s not legal under Montana law. Montana subscribes to the three tier system (manufacturer,…
You may recall our earlier discussions about a bill introduced to the Montana Legislature in January which would create a new “boutique” beer/wine shop license category. The previous bill would have allowed true bottle shops, but restricted their hours to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It did, however, allow such shops to have up to…
The Montana Department of Revenue’s effort to create a new brew-on-premise license was moving along with little trouble until it hit the Senate floor for its second reading on Friday, Feb. 8. The department sought to enact a licensing scheme for businesses which rent equipment to persons who want to brew up their own homebrew,…
Although beer has taken a back seat at the 63rd Montana Legislature – at least for the time being – wine is getting set for a big show. Five bills pertaining to wine have been introduced recently, or are ready to be introduced, ranging in subject from selling wine at farmers’ markets to revising laws…