Restrictions on craft brewers in Wisconsin thanks to the GOP?

[zsdersw]

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/ar...ll-brewers-say-they-re-victims-Miller-Bud-war

A Wausau craft beer brewer is up in arms about a state budget provision he said could make it difficult to expand and will deter others from opening breweries.

The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee last week approved a measure aimed at keeping Anheuser-Busch Inc. from aggressively moving into Wisconsin by preventing brewers from owning wholesale distributors.

Tim Roby, spokesman for the Wisconsin Beer Distributors Association, said the move would prevent Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser products, from buying up distributors across Wisconsin to drastically increase its presence in a market dominated now by MillerCoors.

"We believe everything that small craft brewers can do today, they'll be able to do once the bill is signed and passed into law," he said.

Local brewers, including Don Zamzow of Bull Falls Brewery, insist that a number of the proposed changes could stifle a now-booming craft beer industry.

"On the surface it all looks well and good as a turf war between those two big guys," Zamzow said. "But it doesn't take long to get to craft beers."

The measure allows brewers that make 300,000 barrels of beer to continue to distribute their own beer, as Bull Falls does, but would prohibit a small brewery from having two retail licenses. A brewer could keep one of its retail licenses if it had the license before Jan. 1, 2011.

Zamzow said that without its retail license, Bull Falls would have struggled to get started. The brewery still makes 80 percent of its money in its own bar on Wausau's east side, and at one time almost all of its sales came from the taps before it found places that would stock Bull Falls beers.

"I can guarantee you there won't be a (new) startup," he said.

Zamzow said legislators need only to add a blanket exemption to the bill that excludes small beer makers from the changes. Several legislators who sit on the Joint Finance Committee did not return phone messages last week to comment.

Kevin Eichelberger, brewmaster at Red Eye Brewing Co. in Wausau, said his restaurant-brewery might not see immediate changes, because he operates under a different type of license. But stifling wholesale distribution ultimately could hurt the business if Red Eye decides to distribute more of its beer in the future.

"I don't want to be told somewhere down the road that 'Hey, you're not going to be able to do this or that,'" he said.

This stuff hardly seems appropriate for the state level of government. Why should there be restrictions at all on who can use a distributor to sell their product and who cannot?

If this is the "smaller government" Walker and his GOP allies had in mind, I don't want any part of it.

 

[ProfJohn]

So you are in favor of Bud buying up everyone in sight?

I thought Democrats were against big business?

 

[zsdersw]

So you are in favor of Bud buying up everyone in sight?

Bud can buy whatever distributors it wants... and every other brewer, big and small, should be able to do the same.

I thought Democrats were against big business?

Who said I was a Democrat? You? You don't know anything.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Would anyone's position on this matter change if it was tobacco instead of the alcohol industry?

What if it was Walmart making a strong push into Wisconsin instead of Busch?

 

[dmcowen674]

Damn

They should do this with gas

 

[cubby1223]

Anheuser-Busch buying up distributors will be disastrous for craft brewers. Not allowing Anheuser-Busch to buy distributors will be disastrous for craft brewers. Something feels like I'm not getting a complete and accurate recap of these proposed law changes.

Otherwise, what else is there to discuss? How much we hate those evil union destroying Republicans? It's been done before.

 

[zsdersw]

Anheuser-Busch buying up distributors will be disastrous for craft brewers. Not allowing Anheuser-Busch to buy distributors will be disastrous for craft brewers. Something feels like I'm not getting a complete and accurate recap of these proposed law changes.

Of course it seems that way to you... because anything that casts the GOP in a negative light must be "not the complete story".

http://www.jsonline.com/business/122991428.html

"The provision that allows smaller brewers to self-distribute is designed to convince legislators that craft brewers are being protected, said Jeff Hamilton, president of Glendale-based Sprecher Brewing Co.

However, self-distribution is often less efficient than selling beer through a wholesaler, said Hamilton, Wisconsin Brewers Guild president. As wholesalers have consolidated, there are fewer choices for craft brewers, who often find that larger wholesalers are devoting less attention to selling smaller-volume craft brands, Hamilton said.

Instead of self-distributing, or relying on their current distributors, some Wisconsin craft brewers have discussed the possibility of joining forces to buy or start a beer wholesaler, he said. But the legislation would prohibit that approach, which could restrict future growth for craft brewers, Hamilton said."

Otherwise, what else is there to discuss? How much we hate those evil union destroying Republicans? It's been done before.

This has nothing to do with unions. Walker and the GOP were right to eliminate collective bargaining rights... even though they made a huge budget-busting mistake by exempting the two most expensive groups of public employees (police and firefighters) from their "union busting".

 

[Drako]

Since when do "craft brewers" produce more than 300,000 barrels of beer/year?