Government Shutdown Affects Breweries

This article by Erika Goedrich is reprinted by permission from the Jan. 2, 2019 Craft Beer Cellar DC newsletter. You can subscribe to that newsletter here. During the shutdown they will be offering a 5% discount to furloughed federal employees (and contractors).

The partial shutdown of the U.S. government is running into its second week. With many friends, family, and co-workers currently furloughed, we see the impact here in DC more than many areas of the country.

Brewers around the country are also affected by the partial shutdown. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau suspended all non-excepted operations.

We were wondering what this meant, so we went to our local brewery friends for some answers. Dave Coleman, President of 3 Stars Brewing Company, says, “TTB being closed means that no new beers or labels are currently being approved, which will put delays on new beers being released into our markets.  I don’t think we will see any impact on the importing of hops or malt sinc