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Hey it’s Wednesday and that means it’s Rumor Mill Time….South Carolina legislators have enacted sweeping changes to their beer laws in hopes of landing Stone and may have just attracted yet another major brewery interested in building an East Coast facility. We’ll be bringing you everything we know on this growing development. Plus we’ve a roundup of the latest craft news, gossip, and innuendo so you can be totally plugged into everything going down.
We don’t sleep so you can….THIS WEEK’S RUMOR MILL IS ON!
Get Smarter As You Drink (NYC) – Our friend’s at Hand Crafted Tasting, who are putting on the upcoming NYC Craft Beer Festival – Summer International that’s taking place in Manhattan at the Lexington Ave Armory on June 20 & 21, have added a craft beer concierge center to this year’s festivities so now you can get smarter about craft beer while you’re guzzling it. “The craft beer consumer is getting so sophisticated that we wanted to create a place where those super informed, granular questions from seasoned aficionados could be answered,” said Will Sanford, production manager for the festival. For details and bio info on this year’s visiting craft beer brainiacs, check out: NYC Craft Beer Festival Concierge Center.
What’s An Oktoberfest Without Beer? (Snowbird, UT) – Fans of Utah’s Snowbird Ski Resort’s Oktoberfest celebration will be able to enjoy a German bratwurst, but maybe not a mug of Hefeweizen, at the annual event because the state’s liquor commission is “getting tough about granting single-event permits to businesses,” according to a report that surfaced recently in the Salt Lake Tribune.
South Carolina Moves Legislative Mountains to Land Stone (Columbia, SC) – “Gov. Nikki Haley has signed into law a sweeping change in South Carolina’s approach to beer, lifting restrictions to help craft breweries grow and attract outside beermakers with the potential to invest millions and hire hundreds,” according to The Post and Courier. The nicknamed Stone bill “allows breweries to produce an unlimited amount of beer and also operate on-site restaurants that serve food.”
Deschutes May Reconsider South Carolina Expansion (Bend, OR) – Gov. Nikki Haley’s newly signed legislation, designed to land Stone Brewing as they look to build a new East Coast brewery, may have recaptured the attention of the Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery, who are also interested in expanding eastward, according to myrtlebeachonline. “With the law you guys passed, (Deschutes founder Gary Fish) said we might have to take another look at South Carolina,” Deschutes spokeswoman Marie Melsheimer said Friday afternoon.
Corruption Down Under? (Sydney, Australia) – Three Australian breweries (Lion, Carlton, & United) are under investigation for possible pay-to-play tactics. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that “Fairfax Media has obtained contracts written by CUB and Lion in 2012 and 2013, setting out onerous conditions imposed on publicans, including tying up more than 80 percent of beer taps in return for generous volume rebates and the installation and maintenance of beer taps.” Nothing like that would ever happen in the United States…right?
