Monday, July 14, 2025
57.0°F

Michigan Legislature OKs bills to help small breweries grow

Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years AGO
by Associated Press
| June 17, 2020 1:27 PM

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Small breweries could sell and deliver more craft beer to stores without having to go through Michigan's three-tier system for alcohol distribution under legislation that advanced to the governor's desk on Wednesday.

The Senate voted unanimously in favor of the main measure, which would let microbrewers self-distribute up to 2,000 barrels annually — up from 1,000. On-premises sales would no longer count against the limit, either.

The proposed changes, which are part of a bipartisan 16-bill package, won House approval in February and are expected to be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A key sponsor, Republican Rep. Pauline Wendzel of Watervliet, said the legislation became more urgent as brewers closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“These small businesses are the center of many communities through our state,” she said.

Under the tiered system, brewers sell their beer to distributors — or wholesalers — which sell it to stores. Michigan defines a micro brewer as the maker of less than 60,000 barrels of beer per year.

Jay Fettig, owner of North Pier Brewing in Benton Harbor, said the legislation would help grow small craft breweries by simplifying and streaming the liquor law. Other bills would ease licensing for beer festivals, reduce the frequency of beer- and wine-related taxes and exempt brewpubs — which are smaller than breweries and microbreweries and can only sell inside their establishments — from certain regulatory requirements.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Michigan Legislature OKs bills to help grow small breweries
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years ago
Taverns, brewers develop brewery legislation
Hungry Horse News | Updated 10 years, 5 months ago
Taverns, brewers develop brewery legislation
Bigfork Eagle | Updated 10 years, 5 months ago

ARTICLES BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 18, 2021 12:03 a.m.

Hong Kong police arrest 4 from university student union

HONG KONG (AP) — Four members of a Hong Kong university student union were arrested Wednesday for allegedly advocating terrorism by paying tribute to a person who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself, police said.

July 25, 2021 12:09 a.m.

For South Sudan mothers, COVID-19 shook a fragile foundation

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Paska Itwari Beda knows hunger all too well. The young mother of five children — all of them under age 10 — sometimes survives on one bowl of porridge a day, and her entire family is lucky to scrape together a single daily meal, even with much of the money Beda makes cleaning offices going toward food. She goes to bed hungry in hopes her children won’t have to work or beg like many others in South Sudan, a country only a decade old and already ripped apart by civil war.

July 24, 2021 12:09 a.m.

For South Sudan mothers, COVID-19 shook a fragile foundation

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Paska Itwari Beda knows hunger all too well. The young mother of five children — all of them under age 10 — sometimes survives on one bowl of porridge a day, and her entire family is lucky to scrape together a single daily meal, even with much of the money Beda makes cleaning offices going toward food. She goes to bed hungry in hopes her children won’t have to work or beg like many others in South Sudan, a country only a decade old and already ripped apart by civil war.