West Michigan Breweries Face Challenges Due To Government Shutdown
West Michigan breweries are being forced to make adjustments due to the government shutdown.
We might need a few D.C. 'beer summits' to get this government shutdown solved. In the meantime, brewers are facing some problems.
New beers require government approval before they hit the market. The shutdown has halted the approval of new beer.
Brewersonthelake.com discusses the problems brewers are facing:
The largest of these issues is the Treasury Department’s Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) ceasing approval of new beer labels and recipes. Beer news site Beerpulse estimates that 400 labels per day won’t receive approvals during the shutdown, based on the over 110,000 labels that TTB had approved over the course of 2013 through the end of September.
Founders Brewery is also missing out on business due to the shutdown.
WZZM13.com explains:
Founders Brewing's launch into Maryland is on hold until the government reopens fully. Founders CEO Mike Stevens says he's got about $67,000 worth of beer waiting to be shipped to Maryland.
The issue is with Founders' wholesaler in Maryland. They can't get approval to open their new warehouse because of the closure of a department within the Department of Treasury - the Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB.
Multiple regulations = multiple roadblocks, during a government shutdown.
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