Craft brewers left in the lurch by shutdown
Posted by staff / October 15, 2013 Mike BrennerTreasury Department
If you were expecting Santa to leave you a brand-spanking new collection of craft beers this holiday season, you could be in for some serious disappointment if the government doesn’t get their act together soon.
While Congress is busy boozing it up doing, um, something, craft breweries around the country are stuck in a holding pattern and losing some serious money thanks to the closure of a small branch of the Treasury Department known as the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which gives the go ahead for things like packaging, new products and the opening of new small businesses.
As ABC News reported:
Mike Brenner is trying to open a craft brewery in Milwaukee by December. His application to include a tasting room is now on hold, as are his plans to file paperwork for four labels over the next few weeks. He expects to lose about $8,000 for every month his opening is delayed.
“My dream, this is six years in the making, is to open this brewery,” Brenner said. “I’ve been working so hard, and I find all these great investors. And now I can’t get started because people are fighting over this or that in Washington. … This is something people don’t mess around with. Even in a bad economy, people drink beer.”
Apparently, we’ll just be stuck drinking crap beer.
Full story at ABC News.
Photo credit: Fotolia
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