Summit clarified Mark Stutrud’s position on selling pints on premise at breweries in Minnesota. The Strib piece we mentioned earlier (here, in fact) say on their Facebook page this afternoon:
We fully support the idea of selling pints on premise at breweries. In fact, Summit Pres Mark Stutrud & Ted Marti of Schell’s have been quietly building alliances to promote this legislation for several years. As we continue to work to be able to sell beer at our breweries, we still support the 3-tier system. Our hope is to work together w/ all pertinent parties to open up new opportunities for breweries in MN.
Before reading this post it seemed to me that -unlike what some had perceived- Summit and Schell did or *DO* in fact support the idea of draught and/or pint sales on premise, and at their respective breweries. I never thought otherwise . . .
But somehow folks had conflated a lack of overt support of this Bill on their part with an overt support for Frank Ball’s position -whatever that may be- at MLBA.
At any rate, it’s been a bloody confusing couple of weeks if you ask me : (
P.S. Thank You for the clarification, Ryan!
The only negative thing to come out of this is that we as consumers may no longer get free beer during tours. 🙁 Haven’t been to Summit, but Schell’s & Surly are normally very generous in allowing visitors sample their wares.
But will Summit be willing to support a brewpubs ability to sell bottled or cans of their own beer in their establishments?
Scott – Another bill for another time, but I already support that idea.
Scott – That’s going to be a much harder battle. It seemed it was one of the big issues that the MLBA had with this idea in the first place (even though they later found that it wasn’t part of the planned change). They seem to believe that being able to their wares onsite would mean they cut out the distributor totally and only distribute from their establishment. Simply not going to happen but in their minds it would.
Back in ’06 the MN Craft Brewers Guild fought to change the laws to allow brewpubs to sell their beer to distributors (imagine having a pint of Fitger’s beer on tap at bar in Minneapolis, awesome right?). The bill, sponsored by Sen. Solon in Duluth had the support of brewpubs, the wholesalers, and Summit. The Dept. of Public Safety also had no issues with it. It passed through a subcommittee with no opposition. Then suddenly, 2 Minnesota production breweries (both of which are not MN Craft Brewers Guild members) got involved and got Sen. Solon to change her mind on the bill she had written. It was believed that it may have been desired to add to the bill language that would allow breweries to sell pints of beer at their premises (just what they’re trying to do now with this current bill). Sadly the bill was not passed. I’d love to see people stand behind this idea again.
That 06 bill would have allowed us to buy kegs from brewpubs as well if retailers so chose. Bascially the system WI has currently where brewpubs can have their beer on tap elsewhere and can also bottle and sell in liquor stores. Why Lake Superior and St Croix were opposed to it would be interesting to know. Hopefully if the Surly bill passes, it will be a catalyst for further bills to be brought forth.
http://www.mnbeer.com/2006/04/keep-minnesota-brewing.html
Good link from 06 as well
Sounds like trying to sell pints on premise may have been the demise of the bill in 06 that would have allowed brewpubs to sell to distros
http://www.mnbeer.com/2006/03/beer-politics-in-minnesota.html