Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019
Craft brewers and distillers have seen explosive growth in North Carolina, and new state laws could accelerate that. A conversation at Divine Barrel Brewing in NoDa with leaders in the state's beer-brewing and alcohol-distilling industries.
The new laws are wide-ranging, from allowing distillers to sell mixed drinks on-site to customers, to letting dogs - even cats! - back into breweries.
For beer brewers, such as Charlotte's The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery and NoDa Brewing Company, the legislation also ended a feud with the state's wholesalers over breweries' control of distribution.
Distillers had reason to cheer the laws, which, among other things, removed a cap on the number of bottles they could sell to a customer. Previously, distillers could only sell five bottles per year to a customer.
With these new measures in place, what's ahead for these industries?
GUESTS
Pete Barger, co-owner, Southern Distilling Company; president of the Distillers Association of North Carolina
Todd Ford, co-owner, NoDa Brewing Company
Ryan Self, director of sales, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery