Maryland’s chief tax collector will propose legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January that calls for liberalizing the Old Line State’s regulation of breweries and brewery taprooms.
Under Comptroller Peter Franchot’s “Reform on Tap Act of 2018,” the state would repeal its barrel limits on brewery production as well as the limits on take-home and brewery taproom sales, the Baltimore Sun reported Monday.
Long a proponent of liberalizing the state’s alcohol laws — he’s also called for ending Montgomery County’s liquor monopoly — Mr. Franchot said the friendlier regulatory environment of neighboring states means Maryland should follow suit to promote the health of the state’s craft-beer industry.
For example, according to the Brewers Association website, there is no barrel limit in either D.C. or Pennsylvania brewery pubs, while West Virginia caps brew pubs at 25,000 barrels per years.
“Despite the impressive growth and performance of our craft brewing industry, we simply cannot ignore the fact that our laws and regulatory framework have stood in the way of their limitless potential,” Mr. Franchot said at an event Monday announcing his legislative proposal.
A Democrat, Mr. Franchot has nonetheless often found common cause with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on economic policy matters.
In May, Mr. Hogan expressed his desire that the Democrat-dominated General Assembly would return to the drawing board in 2018 to craft a less restrictive brewery law than the one it passed into law in the 2017 legislative session. It took effect without his signature.
Mr. Hogan said at the time that while he thought the law did not go far enough to liberalize the state’s laws, he thought a veto was counterproductive, particularly given the investment by the makers of Guinness in a brewery operation just south of Baltimore.
That facility, dubbed the Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House, is slated to fully open in 201, with a temporary taproom, opened in late October, operating in the time being.
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