MA Alcohol Task Force accepting public comments

Good to see this is actually moving forward, and is open to public comment.

I plan to focus my response mainly on the "branded growler" issue as that is the one that impacts me most directly. The other topic of interest I'm sure will be state distribution contracts & laws, but I feel more informed people could argue better than I for those overhauls.

Along the same lines as branded growlers, I will propose licenses for liquor stores to fill growlers / crowlers. Visiting states where this is allowed is a shock to the system - in a good way. Imagine going into CBC or Marty's (or Yankee Spirits, as the advert on my side panel is reminding me) and being able to get a fresh fill from a selection rivaling Brewer's Fork or Tip Tap Room. Fresher beer on demand, in whatever format you choose - assuming branded growlers are no longer required.

Any glaring issues I'm forgetting about?

 

A while back when the growler law was up for discussion it seemed many local brewers were against it for a variety of reasons. Even if filling other's growlers were allowed here I don't think a ton of brewer's would change policy. At least based on the opinions from a while back.

 

Ditto for me on both of those. Those would benefit the consumer in a really good way. And I think the growler change would benefit brewers too, but based on their comments, I don't think they agree

 

This I definitely understand. If a brewery can't confirm that a growler is clean (thinking specifically of metal ones where you can't see inside easily) it may effect the flavor of their beer, and therefore the consumer's opinion of said beer and brewery. On the other hand, I assume that small breweries would welcome this change with open arms. If I'm on the road an hour or two away from home and stop at a small local brewery which doesn't offer pre-packaged beer to go (cans/bottles) my most likely course of action is to have a sample or two and then leave. If I can pull a Tree House growler from my trunk and get a $6 fill of some beer that I enjoyed, that's an extra sale which normally wouldn't have occurred.

I'd assume (hope) the market would dictate how many lines a business would run, in the interest of keeping stuff fresh - but you're right, that is no guarantee. I think that's where a smart beer manager would be even more valuable to a shop, because I imagine like in a bar, draft beer (fills) have higher margins than packaged beer.

 

Growler? Is That a thing anymore? I thought most went to the tall boy cans.

 

I remember that. Jack's Abby can't do it for at least the reason that Framingham won't allow them to. They can't even refill your growler you bring in... they have to take it and clean it themselves and give you a new one off the shelf.

People will always think up reasons against this, but in reality the concerns don't really seem to pan out. I don't hear much (if any) complaining coming outta VT about using non-branded growlers. Self-accountability is a beautiful thing. If you're stupid enough to request your dirty growler to get filled, you should suffer the consequences and no one else. Hope the lawyers don't make things more complicated than they need to be here.

 

Breweries don't always can all of their offerings. Growlers are the only way sometimes. Medusa is growler only for take-home beer. Many others are the same way. Smaller outfits can't afford to can.

 

Right, I just dont understand the issue. A lot of states allow any growler to be refilled at any brewery. I think if the law is written as breweries are enabled/allowed to refill any growler, without requiring them to do this, it would be a win-win.

One brewery was complaining about the branding, but when you go to a bar, you don't always get a pint glass with the correct branding/logo. You still know what beer you bought. And you can get over this with a sticker or neck tag.

This is the response you get after submitting the form:

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Please accept this email as confirmation that the Alcohol Task Force has received your posting concerning the statutes and regulations governing the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages in the Commonwealth. The Task Force will review and consider your information as part of its overall examination of the industry’s legal and regulatory framework. You may be contacted in the near future concerning your submission as part of our public hearing process.

The Task Force values your input to the review process, and appreciates your sharing personal and/or professional experiences. Thanks for your time and consideration.

All the best,

The Alcohol Task Force

 

i don't know many craft drinkers in NYC that go to WFM for growlers, they go to specialty accts like Good Beer, Malt and Mold, City Swiggers, etc. If the hypothetical law were to pass here in MA, I'm sure that most readers who frequent this site, who probably already shop at specialty stores, would make educated decisions about where to fill their off premise growlers and do so at the CBC's and Yankee's of the state, as @RuckIt had mentioned, not chain stores. I would hope that the educated consumer knows to check dates when shopping chains.

 

I have to say I never really understood any of the breweries' resistance to changing the law. I understand any given brewery wishing to opt out of changing the status quo for themselves, but being against allowing others to make their own decisions seems like nothing more than a way to insulate themselves from the market pressures that might arise from having competitors with unrestricted growler policies. So actually, I guess I do understand it from a business point of view, but it doesn't mean I have to like it

I've basically solved the problem for myself by not buying growlers from anyone any more. I can't even remember to bring my re-usable grocery bags into the store with me, so having the right growler in my car at the right time is basically a hopeless cause.

One of these days I'll figure out something to do with the 16 of them in my damn basement. Maybe I should take up target shooting.

 

I'd like to see MA be able to accept online purchased beer shipments from out of state vendors. I moved to MA from TN, and was frustrated to find out that no online beer vendors can ship to MA due to state law....I miss my deliveries from Craftshack.

 

I'm from TN too. Have considered shipping beer to my parents & then having them bring it up with them when they come to visit once a year.

 

Is there any legitimate reason for them to oppose this? I've only seen two situations where a brewery rejected another breweries growler, which were:
1) The brewery was using specialized tap lines to fill growlers with less oxygen getting in. The equipment being used did not work on certain sizes of growlers outside of the norm.
2) Breweries that themselves sell only 32 and 64 oz growlers and dont have a system set up for dealing with any random sized growler that someone might bring in. Along with that, breweries that dont want to fill up your three gallon german growler, or whatever those things are, due to limits that they set on amount sold per customer.

People have said that brewers dont want to fill up other growlers because they cant guarantee cleanliness, but that makes no sense to me. The cleanliness of a growler is 100% up to the actions of the customer after they drink it. That really has nothing to do with the brewery that the growler originally came from.

 

This is pretty much common sense - what happens when said customer doesn't have a clean growler, gets a fill from a third party and then proceeds to talk about how the beer sucks because they didn't have a clean growler?

 

Bad luck for the third party?

There are hundreds of things that a beer drinker can do wrong to ruin the product before they enjoy it. Not cleaning their growlers is one of them. Storing beer too long or in poor conditions is another. Drinking in crappy glassware or at bad temperatures is another. All of those could lead to customers not enjoying a product for reasons that are entirely their fault.

I'm all for brewers rejecting dirty growlers, I just dont think there needs to be a state law enforcing it.

 

I don't see a reason. From what I recall the cleaning was an issue, some town laws were an issue, there was talk of brand tarnishing by allowing inferior product to be put into certain brewery growlers, and also talk of fill stations possible mostreating kegs and improperly filling growlers.

It was all mostly nonsense. They are making some change off selling the growler, locking you in with it, dont want to share growler filling profits with 3rd party fill stations, etc,., Many feel the law is of benefit to them. If it gets changed I don't see the reality of growlers changing with it.

I have just stopped buying them. I have the 3 I use. After that they are useless unless I go to RI or VT. Its silly.