PRESS RELEASE / November 8, 2023 (Massachusetts) – Eight small Massachusetts breweries are collaborating on a beer in an attempt to raise awareness for H.401 – a bill designed to give small breweries the power to self distribute their own beer.
Currently, breweries rely on a handful of larger companies to bring their beers out into the world – oftentimes, taking a large percentage along the way. Given the thin margins in the industry, this can limit growth potential for businesses that have been major economic engines in small communities. So the eight breweries – Vanished Valley Brewing Co., Amherst Brewing, Antimony Brewing, Hot Plate Brewing Co., Northampton Brewing Co., SHIRE Brewing, Skyline Beer Company and New City Brewery – are collaborating on a recipe and a brew for a New England Style IPA, called H.401.
The hope is to bring attention to the self-distribution issue by doing what they do best, make beer – and eventually giving themselves the power to control their own distribution destiny. Recently at Vanished Valley in Ludlow they all got together to brew the first batch – each donating time, expertise and ingredients to the effort. Target date for launch is November 21st.
The passing of this bill will help brew pubs better service their offsite customers by removing the need for our products to move through a third party distributor. This in turn will shrink the sales cycle, strengthen the relationship between local brew pubs and our community of retail stores and restaurants/bars, and ultimately give brew pubs more control and ownership of our brands.
Brewpub license holders are the only brewery class that cannot self-distribute their products in the Commonwealth. This means they are prohibited from servicing restaurants in town, or even across the street. Please take a few minutes to support your local craft brewers and help pass H.401 by signing the petition below.
