Why Did Big Sky Brewing Support Montana HB 616?

We supported HB 616 because under current law, Big Sky Brewing Company is the only brewery in Montana where visitors cannot buy a glass of beer to drink at our brewery. Instead, we cannot serve samples at all or we can give them away. We sure do not want to send away visitors without letting them try our beer so we allow them to try up to four 6 oz. samples of our beer. We would like to be able to sell that beer like every other brewery in the state. It is just that simple.

But, wouldn’t HB 616 kill Montana’s craft breweries?

Here is what HB 616 would do. Every existing brewery in Montana would have an option to purchase a beer or all-beverage license within two years of the bill becoming law. Pricing of beer licenses ranges from as low as hundreds of dollars to as high as $100,000. This license allows the brewery to stay open as late as they choose, up to 2am. It also removes the three pint limit from breweries. If a brewery did not choose to purchase one of these licenses, it could continue to operate under the current taproom rules – last pour by 8pm and three pint maximum – for no additional fee so long as at least sixty percent of its total beer sales over 300 barrels went outside of the brewery. By making beer licenses available to breweries, HB 616 would allow all Montana breweries to expand their hours and sell more than three pints per customer per day if they chose to do so. This would expand brewery rights, not reduce them.

Don’t all the other breweries in Montana hate you for supporting HB 616?

First, here is a statement from the Montana Brewers Association in response to calls to boycott Big Sky Brewing beers:

Immediately following the hearings the crew from Big Sky Brewing and several members of the MBA wound up in the same restaurant in Helena. Many of us got together over a Montana made craft beer or two and hashed out the pros and cons of the bill. It was a very informative and reasonable discussion and we did not feel any ill-will towards us from other brewers. We then headed over to Blackfoot River Brewing and had a couple of beers there while socializing with several more brewers. We believe that the brewers we spoke with understand that our supporting HB 616 was not in any way aimed at harming their businesses.

If you have further questions, feel free to send an email to [email protected]

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