SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Brewery owners in New Jersey, who celebrated after Gov. Phil Murphy signed laws for new regulations, said there have been lingering issues hurting their businesses since then.
There has still been some confusion over the rules for brewery owners, especially regarding events.
Eric Orlando, with the Brewers Guild of New Jersey, said there are a couple of problems with the governing body, Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). One is that some rules breweries operate under now have some ambiguity, which he said can change without notice. The other is that the ABC’s proposed permanent changes have added extra red tape and fees to the laws that passed in the legislature.
“If you don’t know going into the situation about whether something is going to be approved or not, or if there’s going to be additional layers of conditions on some of these events, you’re stuck,” said Orlando.
Scott Wells, co-owner of Bolero Snort Brewery in Carlstadt, said he wished he opened his brewery in New York or Pennsylvania instead, because New Jersey is extremely difficult.
“We had a brewery the other day who got denied a permit, for example, that was identical to a permit they got approved a month prior,” Wells said, adding that the rules seemed to change from week to week.
“Last week, we were able to sell two drinks per person. Today is different: you can only sell one drink per, and it becomes a problem with staff.”
The public comment period is still open on the proposed ABC regulations, which may be implemented under the outgoing Murphy administration.
“With the end of this administration coming up on Jan. 20, we think that it’s the intent of the ABC to adopt these regulations to beat that deadline,” said Orlando. He added the Brewers Guild proposed more than a dozen changes of its own to make New Jersey breweries more regionally competitive.
ABC did not respond to our request for comment.