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News Tue Jun 04 2013
Confusing Craft Brewing News Out of Springfield
WBEZ covers changes to craft brewers' production limits and new distributor ownership laws passed in Springfield this week. Unfortunately the whole thing is incredibly difficult to understand. We break it down for you here:
1) Craft brewers (i.e. Revolution, as outlined in the article) may now produce 30,000 barrels, up from 15,000. This seems good since it's double the limit, but bad when you consider that the brewing facility Josh Deth purchased at Kedzie & Belmont is capable of producing 100,000 barrels (and he was looking to have the law changed to 200,000 barrels).
2) Anheuser Busch and other beer/liquor behemoths are prevented from having ANY ownership of the distributors in Illinois - they own 30% of City Beverage, and attempted to buy it in 2010. Fun fact: AB completely owns distributors in nine other states.
3) Revolution may be able to get around this law and make more than 30,000 barrels since the Kedzie facility could be considered a brewpub, and brewpubs can sell directly to beer drinkers. If only Deth will let me bring my dog with me to the Tap Room, my partner and I can assist even further in meeting his sales goal.
