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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
‘I’ll have a keg
to go, please’ may
soon become a realityBETTER business is brewing for Hawaii's brewpubs in the Legislature. A bill to allow the businesses to do more business was approved by the state Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs committee yesterday morning.
Along with a similar House measure, the bill would allow brewpubs such as Brew Moon on Oahu and Fish & Game Brewing Co. & Rotisserie on Maui to sell handcrafted beer in half-gallon so-called growlers and in kegs, for customers to take home.
"It will also allow self-distribution, so that we can sell to other restaurants," said Tom Kerns, brewmaster at Fish & Game, in Kahana.
"Right now the law requires brewpubs to sell through a middle-man distributor before it gets to the ultimate consumer," he said.
Fish & Game has limited distribution to other restaurants, through Paradise Beverages, of about 15 percent of its 700-keg-per-year production.
"We would like to increase that, but to do so and make it affordable, we'd want to do it ourselves," Kerns said.
In Hawaii, brewpubs' cost of doing business is 40 percent higher than on the mainland because of shipping and other costs as well as taxes on alcohol.
"We can overcome these challenges with just a little less restriction," said Kerns.
On Maui, five brewpubs have closed in the last three years. Statewide in the past 10 years, 15 brewers opened, then closed.
On the mainland, the opposite has occurred. "There are now five times the amount of breweries across the nation than there were 10 years ago. We're just missing some of the opportunities that are allowing them to thrive in the business community," said Kerns.
Fish & Game employs 80 people and derives 65 percent of its revenue from food sales, "so we're a restaurant first," he said. However, "part of the motivation (for the bill) was that we invested a lot of money in the brewing equipment and we'd like to maximize the production potential of that."
The current three-tier hierarchy of manufacturing, distribution and retailing was altered in 1994 when brewpubs were legalized as manufacturers and dispensers. Interest in microbrewery products increased, spurring demand for the higher-end brews among traditional retailers who are in turn serviced by distributors.
Fish & Game won't be retailing any other companies' products, so it won't be competing with beer and wine retailers.
"So far we haven't seen any real serious opposition," said state Rep. Brian Blundell, who introduced the House version, which is still awaiting a Judiciary Committee hearing.
He said he sees it as "sort of one of those common-sense things where a business is producing a product and yet they're restricted on how they can sell it."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
