MA: State alcohol task force hears calls to overhaul regs
Sentinel & Enterprise
By Amanda Burke
June 2, 2017
LEOMINSTER — The complex jumble of state laws governing alcohol sales and distribution is poised for a shakeup. Testimony given at a Thursday public hearing suggests a long road ahead for regulators whose new statutes must negotiate the needs of alcohol makers, sippers and shippers.
The hearing was one in a series convened by the Alcohol Task Force to gathering input from stakeholders before the work of rewriting state law begins.
Staying competitive with supermarkets and chain liquor stores was a top issue for package store owner Tom Fratturelli, who owns Westminster Liquors and attended the hearing on behalf of the Package Store Association.
Fratturelli said he fears getting boxed out by large-scale retailers.
Supermarket chains, meanwhile, want to sell alcohol at more locations. Under current law, no more than seven locations in a statewide franchise can carry alcohol, said Vice President of the Massachusetts Food Association Brian Houghton.
“I think the commission really needs to take a hard look at the ramifications of these laws,” said Fratturelli. “And what effect it’s having on small businesses.”
Large chains liquor stores like Maryland-based Total Wine & More recently launched a public relations campaign in Massachusetts to curry support for a statutory change that would allow it to sell to customers at wholesale prices, chucking minimum price laws, he said.
“Total Wine and these companies are gearing their prices to New Hampshire,” Fratturelli said.
Two owners of local breweries said they want licensing laws to change in order to encourage growth.
Ned LaFortune, founder of 60-employee Wachusett Brewing Co. and a board member with the state brewing guild, spoke out in support of an “a la carte” permitting scheme.
Such a set-up would let manufacturers whether they want to, for example, pour drinks on site, or handle their own deliveries.
Wachusett Brewing expanded over the past 13 years because it was able to diversify, LaFortune said.
In addition to brewing its own beer, Wachusett lets tenant brewers use its equipment for a price.
To do so requires LaFortune and his company hold a manufacturing license, which by its nature prohibits Wachusett from diversifying further and opening up a taproom, the brewing company president said.
About 53 craft breweries hold what’s known as a farmer-brewery license that lets them set up taprooms where customers can buy and drink the brewery’s beer.
“That’s another thing that’s not allowed to manufacturers,” LaFortune said “We want an amendment to our manufacturing license to be able to pour and sell our own products that we make.”
That statutory amendment, LaFortune added, would help Wachusett become a “destination” brewery where “people can sit down enjoy themselves and have a pint and get something to eat.”
Ryan Daigle, owner of Moon Hill Brewing Co. and the Gardner Ale House, said laws forcing craft brewers to pay distributors to make deliveries cut into startup-businesses’ bottom lines.
“Part of the reason it took us 10 years to grow and expand was licensing, said Daigle.
Paying distributors to transport comparatively small amounts of beer to bars and retailers just a stones throw away is money Daigle would rather reinvest in his business.
“I’d love to be Sam Adams by next year,” Daigle joked when task-force member Pete Wilson asked him to project Moon Hill’s growth if current franchise laws were reformed.
Leominster At-Large City Councilor Claire Freda testified before the Task Force that municipalities should ultimately control the number of alcohol licenses it issues to businesses.
The city should support local package stores and encourage economic development by answering “millennials” calls for pub-style eateries, she said.
“Who knows better what Leominster deserves and wants and needs better than us,” said Freda.
The Alcohol Task Force will soon assemble a handful of subcommittees comprised of industry and public health representatives who will make recommendations on policy related to issues including licensing, applications, and economic development, said E. Macey Russell, a commercial litigator at Choate Hall & Stewart LLP and chairman of the Task Force.