Brewers Unite
Since officially merging earlier this year, the New Jersey Brewers Association and The Brewers Guild of New Jersey are operating under the name of the latter.
“It’s wonderful to have all New Jersey craft breweries back together in one guild,” says Lori White, co-founder of Zed’s Beer /Bado Brewing (Marlton) “One of the most important things an industry association does is to communicate for us to our lawmakers in Trenton. We’ve seen how important this was in getting some very strict and anti-competitive regulations on breweries removed through legislation, which we could not have accomplished if we had not been speaking with one voice.”
The two associations had often worked together, pushing back on state restrictions such as “having to give a tour before we could serve someone onsite, not having more than two TVs, not collaborating with food vendors,” and more, says Denise Ford Sawadogo, Guild communications committee lead who is also chief brand & administrative officer and co-founder of Montclair Brewery. “As of January, these laws have finally been removed,” she notes, referring to the long-awaited passage of legislation lifting a wide range of restrictions on New Jersey breweries (S-4265/A5912).
While uniting brewers into one group and eliminating a fair amount of legislative red tape is a welcome development, it came too late for many breweries—and Covid had added more sand to the gears. “At some point, all the breweries had to shut down on-premises consumption,” says Sawadogo. “And not all were set up to sell beer to-go or in cans.”
“About four months aft er the shutdown, outside seating was permitted,” recalls Sawadogo. “But not all breweries had adjacent outside spaces, and rules about street dining had not been fully set in several towns and cities in the state.”
To help businesses survive the pandemic, the state lift ed restrictions that prohibited brewers from serving food on-site. The new legislation signed in January cemented the lifting of restrictions; it helped some but others continued to struggle, and many closed their doors for good, including Alementary Brewing in Hackensack and Lunacy Brewing Company in Haddon Heights.
Still, the newly combined group is buoyed by their recent successes and optimistic about the future of New Jersey brewing.
“Having a larger and more diverse group of members means there’s always someone you can turn to who may have a practical solution for a problem you’re facing, or a recommendation for a piece of equipment, or to borrow a tool or bag of malt from when your delivery truck is running late and you have a brew day scheduled,” says White. “More members means more resources, more experience, and more talent that we all can draw from.” —MP
“MORE MEMBERS MEANS MORE RESOURCES, MORE EXPERIENCE, AND MORE TALENT THAT WE ALL CAN DRAW FROM.”—Lori White, co-founder, Zed’s Beer/Bado Brewing
