White Marsh, MD
MD Brewery Challenge #37
The Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood (SPBW) met at the Red Brick Station. As an added bonus, Maryland Comptroller, Peter Franchot, was the guest speaker. Okay, its official, I’m a groupie of Mr. Franchot’s Reform on Tap Task Force. Also, Red Brick Station is the home of White Marsh Brewing, the 37th brewery on the Maryland Brewery Challenge.
I walked through the bar and the dining room until I finally found the SPBW meeting in the banquet room in the back. Peter Franchot was already speaking, so I found a seat and listened.
Mr. Franchot is, as he states, the chief tax collector of Maryland and oversees the enforcement of Maryland’s liquor laws. I missed his intro, but I can guess he talked about his Reform on Tap Task Force, a group assembled to study and overhaul the antiquated liquor laws of Maryland. Here is a summary from his website:
“The state and the counties, for the last 70 years, have added bits and pieces of statutory language to the law books of the state, and the result is just a minefield of restrictions on local brewing,” says Franchot. “And none of it is meant to protect the public or have a health and safety basis to it. All of it is to protect monopolies who are running the show.”
Mr. Franchot took several questions from the SPBW members. One asked about selling beer in grocery stores. Peter Franchot supports allowing grocery stores to sell beer and wine. He notes that Talbot county has always done it and beer stores in the county think it works well.
Another asked, “What can craft beer drinkers do?” His response was, use social media, call and email your legislators, follow Reform on Tap on Facebook.
One more question let the Comptroller summarize things, “How is the Reform on Tap going?” He feels that it is going well. He plans to address the unfair franchise laws that restrict the termination of the brewer/wholesaler agreements to at least 6 months. He feels that just like a marriage, sometimes a divorce is necessary. The franchise law will be changed.
Afterward, I finally realized my unasked question. How can Maryland level the playing field for Maryland breweries? Big venues (I.e. Camden Yards, Ravens Stadium, Merriweather Post Pavillion) offer mostly Big Beer brands. How can we present opportunities for Maryland brewers to sell their terrific beer at these places?
While ordering an Extra Special Bitter (ESB) on cask, I met Dave, the assistant brewer. He actually brewed this delicious ESB. It was a nice, well-balanced beer with a touch of sweetness and just the right amount of English bitter hops. Dave has been brewing there since January of this year. He has been homebrewing for many years. He brews on the weekends for White Marsh. During the week, he is a chiller mechanic at NSA.
Cheers!
Warren