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Home E-newsletters Subscribe About Us Follow Us <br />34 <br />New Laws Impact MN Brewers, Distilleries, And <br />Wineries <br />Sunday sales didn’t make <br />the cut, but new legislation <br />still has implications for <br />craft beer taprooms, micro- <br />distilleries, farm wineries, <br />and home brewers, among <br />others. <br />by Jake Anderson <br />May 20, 2014 <br />While a push to allow Sunday alcohol sales, including 64-ounce “growlers” at craft beer taprooms, died <br />following a heated debate this legislative session, the omnibus liquor bill that ultimately reached Governor <br />Mark Dayton’s desk does include some changes to Minnesota’s liquor laws. <br />“Cocktail Rooms” <br />One such change will benefit craft distilleries, a burgeoning industry that some speculate is poised to fuel <br />Minnesota’s next alcohol-related business boom. <br />The craft beer industry—which by one estimate adds $742 million to Minnesota’s economy—received a major <br />boost by the 2011 passage of the so-called “Surly Bill,” which added a new license that allows brewers to sell <br />pints of their beer at on-site taprooms. <br />The new liquor bill that Dayton recently signed allows for “cocktail rooms,” which are essentially the craft <br />distillers’ version of a taproom. State law previously allowed micro-distilleries to dole out free samples of their <br />liquor products to customers—up to three 15-milliliter pours per visitor, per day. Under the new law, <br />municipalities may grant a new license to craft distillers that allows them to sell their products on the premises <br />where they produce them, for on-site consumption. <br />Groups such as the Minnesota Distillers Guild had <br />advocated for the passage of a cocktail room license. <br />As is the case with craft beer taprooms, the cocktail <br />room license does not preclude the business from also <br />operating an on-site restaurant. (Brau Brothers Brewing <br />Company, for example, has taken advantage of that <br />opportunity, opening a restaurant at its taproom in <br />Marshall.) The law does, however, prohibit businesses <br />from holding both taproom and cocktail room licenses. <br />Updated Rules For Craft Beer Taprooms <br />Craft brewers banded together in an effort to begin <br />selling growlers of beer on Sunday, and despite a 43-22 <br />vote in the Senate to restore that stripped-out provision, <br />it did not ultimately make it into the final bill. <br />Current Issue <br />Read this month's <br />issue of Twin Cities <br />Business. <br />HIGHLIGHTS The Business Of Dying Is Changing March's Top Networking Spots Is Residential Real Estate Good Business Again?A Network For Female Entrepreneurs <br />NEWS LEADERSHIP INDUSTRIES LISTS + RESEARCH OPINION LIFE STYLE HONORS + EVENTS MAGAZINE <br />Page 1 of 3New MN Liquor Laws Impact Craft Brewers, Distilleries, And Wineries <br />3/31/2015http://tcbmag.com/News/Recent-News/2014/May/New-Laws-Impact-MN-Brewers-Distill...