Maryland is in danger of losing craft beer

By Ricardo Fuentes
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Craft beer lovers, from the brewers to the customers, will gather Friday at the Maryland State Legislature for a hearing on a controversial proposal to lower the productions of local breweries in favor of the famous beer-maker Guinness.

Two Maryland legislators, Talmadge Branch and Dereck E. Davis, introduced the legislation to the General Assembly on Feb. 8. Known as House Bill 1052, the measure would preserve greater on-premise consumption limits for Guinness—or any brewery producing more than 1 million barrels a year. Talmadge is the House Majority Whip.

Other bill features include reverting limits on smaller breweries back to 500 barrels a year. Lawmakers last year agreed to a 2,000-barrel taproom limit for all class 5 breweries.

Guinness officials immediately began an attack on the bill, insisting the “new beer bill” would “send Maryland’s beer laws back to the Dark Ages.” Guinness is building a large-scale brewery in Baltimore County.

“We at Guinness were surprised by the introduction of HB 1052 and we do not support this bill,” said Dwayne A. Kratt, Diageo government affairs director in a statement. “While we appreciate the support for our brewery project by the legislature and the collective Maryland beer community, this bill will take us a step backwards from the category growth, beer tourism and job creation we are all working towards.”

Other opponents complain the measure would hamper contract brewing, the practice that allows beer startups to rent production machinery at larger breweries while competing in the market. The bill would hold the economy back, some charge.

“This is an extended middle finger to the Maryland craft beer industry,” said Len Foxwell, the chief of staff for Comptroller Peter Franchot, who has introduced his own legislation to ease regulation on breweries.

“It seeks to punish Maryland’s independent craft brewers, much as a parent would an outspoken child, by creating a bill that is even more damaging to the industry that was House Bill 1283,” said Foxwell.

Franchot, a Democrat, wrote on his Facebook page that the proposal would “for all intents and purposes, destroy the craft brewing industry in the State of Maryland.” When he assembled a task force last year to study the issue, the group’s recommendations led to The Reform on Tap Act of 2018.

“HB 1052 is undoing all the alleged harm that was caused by HB 1283 in the 2017 session,” said Del. Davis, a Democrat who chairs the Economic Matters Committee, which is holding the hearing.

“If they are all against HB 1052 after they railed against HB 1283 of 2017, a big lie has been perpetrated to the state of Maryland,” he said.

Franchot’s task force commissioned a study that found the craft beer industry had an overall economic impact of $637.6 million and either supported or created 6,541 jobs with $228.3 million in wages and $53.1 million in state and local tax revenues.

“HB 1052 is a distraction from the reform efforts that the brewers are promoting,” said Kevin Atticks, the executive director of the American Brewers Association. “It’s extremely damaging because it looks back instead of moving forward. The industry is focused on evolving laws to make Maryland a leader in craft brewing.”

As a consumer, Shane James, a teacher at High Point High School in Beltsville, has a more tempered perspective.

“As someone who grew up in Maryland, I love Maryland beer, especially Franklins,” said James. “I would hate to see local Maryland businesses be pushed by some big company like Guinness.”

The Economic Matters Committee will hold the hearing on both HB 1052 and Franchot’s Reform On Tap Act.