Sponsorships for 2015 Montana Brewers Festivals

Posted On March 17, 2015

Sponsorships for 2015 Montana Brewer Festivals; featuring only beer that’s made in Montana.

The MBA works with sponsorship partners to host events around the state to promote and support the craft beer movement in Montana. Please be in touch with us if you’d like to add your brand’s name to the line-up of companies that help us pull off great parties and support this Made in Montana economy-building industry. Scroll down to find information about the event you would like to sponsor.

2015 Montana Brewers Festivals!

Posted On March 17, 2015

Click on an event for more information:

Bozeman Spring Brewers Festival:

• Thursday, May 7th, Haynes Pavillion

Helena Summer Brewers Festival:

• Saturday, August 15th, Memorial Park

Missoula Fall Brewers Festival:

• Friday, October 16th, Caras Park

Brewery bills fail in committee

Posted On February 12, 2015

Re-posted from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle,  February 11, 2015.

Bills would have raised production cap, allowed brewers to hold liquor licenses

HELENA — Two bills aimed at loosening regulations around craft brewing in Montana failed narrowly in the House Business and Labor Committee on Wednesday.

House Bill 326 would have allowed brewers to hold liquor licenses in addition to their brewing license — often called license stacking — and would have lifted the cap for production with a tasting room from 10,000 barrels to 60,000 barrels annually.

House Bill 336 would have raised the production capacity without the license stacking option. HB 326 was the product of two years of work by an industry coalition that included the Montana Brewers Association and the Montana Tavern Association, two groups not known for getting along.

“It’s unfortunate that the good effort between the vast majority of brewers and the Tavern Association is able to be killed by a small minority,” said John Iverson, lobbyist for the Tavern Association, just after the vote.

The Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association pulled out of the coalition in December because of the license stacking option in the bill. Instead, the group got behind HB 336 as an alternative to the Brewers Association-backed license stacking bill, forming another coalition and arguing that the measure would force brewers into the state’s quota liquor license system. Both bills failed by a vote of 9-10 in the committee.

From Twitter:

Speaking in support of HB 326 before the vote, Rep. Chris Pope, D-Bozeman, said he hoped he didn’t regret supporting the measure but thought it was a compromise.
“I’m voting for 326 because I think it does less harm,” Pope said. “I believe there are folks who are going to be not happy with whatever we come up with here.”
The committee did not discuss HB 336 before the vote.
Several members of the committee expressed concern that neither bill had enough support from all the industry players, as several brewers had been outspoken against the license stacking bill alongside the Distributors Association. Some lawmakers proposed studying the issue for a better solution.
“We have been presented with the good faith efforts of the industry to find some compromise here,” said Rep. Chuck Hunter, D-Helena. “But I feel compromise has not really been reached.”
The bills were tabled after the failed vote, leaving them essentially dead, though a motion to reconsider could revive them.

House Bill 326

Posted On February 7, 2015

The House Business and Labor Committee met on Friday and took up brewery bills. HB326 by Rep. Pat Noonan is the bill endorsed by the Montana Brewers Association and will provide the brewing industry with new choices that they have never had before. Brewers can operate as they currently do, grow above the current 10,000 barrel limit, and co-locate retail licenses at their breweries, if they choose.

This bill is preferable to HB336 (the beer fairness act) which only lifts the 10,000 barrel limit, was not an agreed to approach though the coalition of industry members (including the MBA), and adds other unneeded technical provisions by distributors. It is disingenuous on the part of distributors for them to now, suddenly, become supporters of lifting this limit, when they have long objected to our desire for change here, including in the coalition meetings. Distributors want no change whatsoever!.  This is because so long as brewers and retailers are fighting one another, distributors are standing in tall cotton. And the brewers and the consuming public loses.

HB326 is the Best Solution for Brewers because:

• It is the compromise solution hammered out by industry members during the past 18 months to give brewers choices in order to grow their businesses.
• It maintains the current operating factors for brewers to operate and grow under current law, and for new brewers to enter the market. Breweries can continue to operate just as they are, if they choose.  Retailers are done fighting us over our tap rooms.
• It will lift the current 10,000 barrel cap in sample rooms to 60,000 barrels, clearing a major hurdle for brewers growing above this level. It provides that brewers growing over 10,000 barrels maintain modest tap rooms, with sales up to 500 barrels.
• It allows brewers to own retail licenses, and retailers to own breweries, but limits the ownership to 3 retail licenses (one must be co-located at a brewery). Therefore, large chains may not set up vertical monopolies, and any current owner of more than 3 retail licenses may not co-locate a brewery.
• It will not collapse the 3-Tier System. Most states in the country allow brewers to own retail licenses and the 3-Tier System is alive and well in those states.
• 97% of all beer sold in the state is carried by Montana distributors and 3% is sold directly by Montana brewers, and this bill will not change these facts. Brewers will continue to rely upon the distribution channels to move our beer.
• HB326 will give brewers choices for them to grow their retail abilities, expand production, and increase investments in people and facilities in our cities and towns at our main street brewery businesses.

We do not need more time to study this issue. We need the Legislature to act now to help brewers grow their businesses.  Write the committee members of the House Business and Labor Committee and ask them to Act Now and Support HB326 and help the brewing industry grow in our state. To contact the  committee members using the state’s system, click here.  Or, here is list of the committee members with their emails if you would rather send an email directly.
Thank you for supporting Montana Craft Beer!  Cheers to all Montana Brewers!

Member/
Assignment:
Tom Berry  (R) HD 40              [email protected]
Chair – Roundup

Ryan Lynch  (D) HD 76            [email protected]
Vice Chair – Butte

Daniel R Salomon  (R) HD 93   [email protected]
Vice Chair – Ronan

Christy Clark  (R) HD 17          [email protected]
Member- Choteau

Willis Curdy  (D) HD 98            [email protected]
Member – Missoula

Steve Fitzpatrick  (R) HD 20      [email protected]
Member – Great Falls

Chuck Hunter  (D) HD 83          [email protected]
Member – Helena

George G Kipp  (D) HD 15         [email protected]
Member – Heart Butte

Mike Lang  (R) HD 33               [email protected]
Member – Malta

David (Doc) Moore  (R) HD 92    [email protected]
Member -Missoula

Mark Noland  (R) HD 10            [email protected]
Member – Bigfork

Andrea Olsen  (D) HD 100         [email protected]
Member – Missoula

Gordon Pierson  (D) HD 78        [email protected]
Member – Deerlodge

Christopher Pope  (D) HD 65      [email protected]
Member – Bozeman

Vince Ricci  (R) HD 55               [email protected]
Member – Laurel

Tom Richmond  (R) HD 56          [email protected]
Member – Billings

Scott Staffanson  (R) HD 35       [email protected]
Member – Sidney

Tom Steenberg  (D) HD 99         [email protected]
Member – Missoula

Jeffrey W Welborn  (R) HD 72     [email protected]
Member – Dillon