Brewers Association of Maryland Fortifies Bylaws to Ensure Focus on Craft Brewers

July 7, 2016 (Baltimore, MD)- The Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM) announced a change in

bylaws to restrict voting memberships and board representation to craft brewers, in light of recent

brewery acquisitions by multi-national corporations.

“Given the changing nature of the beer industry & the predatory behavior our members are noticing

from mega-beer, the membership has voted unanimously to support a change to BAM’s bylaws to keep

the organization focused on local craft beer,” said Kevin Atticks, BAM’s executive director.

State brewers guilds across the country have been forced to decide the status of local brewers’

membership upon acquisition by mega-corporations such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Constellation.

”

It is virtually impossible for large, multi-national industrial breweries to share the same interests as

small, local, independent craft breweries,” said Ben Savage, president of the Brewers Association of

MD and CMO of Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick. "We wanted to be proactive in making sure that

the voting voice of our membership truly represented Maryland craft beer.”

“Craft brewery” is defined by the national Brewers Association as having an annual production of six

million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales).

“State guilds are the voice independent craft brewers have when it comes to advocating for their

interests in the legislatures or within the larger brewing & distribution communities in their states,”

said Bob Pease, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, the national organization of craft

brewers. “Maintaining the clarity of that voice is essential to preserving the viability of independent

brewers in an increasingly challenging marketplace.”