Brewery Restrictions Opposed By Chatham Borough Officials

CHATHAM, NJ — The Chatham Borough Council plans to discuss a resolution opposing the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control's special conditions on breweries during its Mayor and Council meeting on Monday night.

The New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) issued new rules this summer that severely restrict activities on the premises of microbreweries. As a result, each year, the establishments can only host 25 on-site events.

The regulations are part of a special ruling issued by the ABC in 2019. They follow a similar, harsher set of rules issued in 2018, which drew immediate criticism from industry leaders and legislators alike.

The limited brewery license, created by the New Jersey Legislature in 2012, is a hybrid that grants holders both manufacturing and retail privileges. According to brewery owners throughout the state, breweries' ability to function as retailers have been severely restricted by the most recent regulations.

Cindy DeRama, the owner of Chatham-based Twin Elephant Brewing, believes that the new restrictions will harm the role of small businesses in their community.

"What I foresee causing issues is that since the ABC does have the control to create rulings over simple entertainment in breweries, it is a slippery slope to what else they can start to control. We already have a lot of restrictions, taxes and laws for manufacturing beer, and the idea was when these special rulings came out in 2018, we were going to work collaboratively to find a happy medium that did not feel threatening to the bar and restaurant groups. However, this year for some reason they re-announced with our license renewals the special rulings with some more clarifications and additional enforcement which is upsetting since a lot of businesses are still hurting from COVID shutdown and restrictions," DeRama said.

Chatham officials plan to review and discuss a possible resolution opposing the state's new restrictions, possibly drawing inspiration from neighboring towns such as Long Valley, which recently passed their own resolution.

Following an outpouring of frustration and anger from brewery owners, resolutions opposing the new restrictions have sprouted up all over the Garden State.

The majority of the resolutions proposed that the New Jersey governor and state legislature work with breweries to develop fair laws to guide state regulators at the division of beverage control in their oversight of the state's craft beer industry.

"We want to keep the market fair but the ABC has already hyper-focused on controlling small things for breweries when they can be focusing on more systemic issues like less restrictions for brewery production, pay to play and the insane costs of liquor licenses," DeRama said.

According to ABC Director James Graziano, who issued the 2019 special ruling, the rules were designed "to help craft breweries promote their products and build their business while continuing to balance the concerns of other licensees and ensuring compliance with state law."

The new rules prohibit microbreweries from selling food on-site or collaborating with local food vendors. Microbreweries may provide menus from local restaurants, but they cannot have a monopoly on them.

The ABC's new restrictions aim to distinguish microbreweries from traditional bars, limiting the full capabilities of small breweries.

"It is unfortunate the rulings do not support the community aspect most breweries want to have and hinder potential revenue opportunities. We want to have events and collaborate with and support other local small businesses and artists. We want to be able to have charity events to fundraise for good," DeRama said.

Members of the Chatham Borough Council intend to discuss this issue at the Sept. 12 Council Meeting, which is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Click here to view the full agenda, including a sample resolution.