“Senator Scott Brown yesterday condemned a rule change at the state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission that beer makers say could harm 25 craft brewers in Massachusetts, and even put some smaller companies out of business. The ABCC issued the revised rule, which has yet to be finalized, earlier this week. It would require the roughly two dozen local brewers operating under a so-called farmer-brewery license to grow at least half of the hops or grains they use to make beer, or get them from a domestic source.”
I think the ABCC has their heart in the right place – support local grain growers. But I’m not sure how this will impact brewers, as I don’t think Massachusetts is a big grain paradise, say, like some mid-west state.
One thought might be to create a “Mostly Mass” sort of label identifying brews that use mostly local ingredients. I think that’s more in line with how folks have been promoting local farmers than some blanket un-competitive license change.
What do you think?
