Rep. Scott Simon (R-Arbita Springs) pre-filed legislation in May that would roll back restrictions on craft breweries.
House Bill 246 would allow caterers to serve alcohol at brewery-hosted private events.
Cary Koch, executive director of the Louisiana Craft Craft Brewers Guild, said that Louisiana has one of the highest closing rates for breweries in the nation.
The state’s craft beer business is growing but is restricted by red tape regulations.
Small craft brewers saw a 6 percent rise in volume that accounted for 12 percent of the U.S market, according to the Brewers Association.
Two craft breweries are in Baton Rouge with three more planning to open.
Local breweries fight national beer companies and state breweries incentivized by government grants. Out-of-state breweries have fewer regulations, allowing them to paths to easier profit.
Louisiana law bans self-distribution and requires microbreweries to choose between restaurant and bar sales or retail sales.
For example, “pay to play” at festivals. Paying for your beer to be an exclusive product at a festival is illegal in Louisiana is illegal, but Jazz Fest of Voodoo fest serve multi-national breweries that can foot the bill for expensive sponsorships.
It’s the same as the Falcon’s stadium in Atlanta.
The Brewers Association ranks Louisiana in the bottom 5 in the U.S for friendliness to breweries.
2016 Brewers Association statistics rank Louisiana 25th in economic impact with $740 million in revenue. The state ranked 48th in the number of breweries per capita.
Two Baton Rouge brothers planned to start a Noble Wave, a brewery and restaurant, but fled the state in 2018 to escape onerous regulations.
The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control issued an advisory in March questioning whether events such as yoga classes, hiring live music, or allowing food trucks at a brewery would be allowed.
Their business plan included a full salary and benefits to employees and to donate 50 percent of tips to a companion nonprofit.
Noble Wave cited “Louisiana’s uncompetitive legal and regulatory landscape for craft breweries,” specifically the ban on distributing beer to retailers.
“We were not going to be well-served by opening in a place, like Louisiana, that forces us to forgo significant revenue options that would be available to us in other states,” Schultz said in a press release. “It just doesn’t make sense to handcuff ourselves from a legal and financial standpoint.”
They opened in Salem, Oregon, which the brothers said has “best-in-class regulatory environment” and an “unsaturated existing craft beer market.”
Local Louisiana breweries drive the economy, employing 400 people (excluding distributors and retailers), as well as helping raise money for universities and athletic programs.
The brothers aren’t the only ones changing their plans because of regulation. In October, Baltimore’s Flying Dog Brewery Company’s CEO Jim Carus delayed his $54 million expansion plans due to new laws regulating items including taproom hours to on-premise sales.
The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, ranks Louisiana 43rd in most burdensome licensing laws. Occupations require, on average, $360 in fees, 202 days of education and experience, and two exams.
For example, it’s the only state to license florists. The entry barriers to open an interior design business are $1,240 in fees, six years of education, and one exam.
That’s stringent protection against lousy fashion.
Overall, 77 out of 102 lower-income occupations require licensing.