Craft Brew News
05/15/20
(Courtesy of Brewbound.com)

Craft Beer Festivals Across the Country Go Virtual During COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered nearly every facet of life and commerce, but one particular area stands to be gutted more than almost any other: large scale events.

In the beer industry alone, event casualties are numerous. The Brewers Association has now canceled three of its marquee events, including the annual Craft Brewers Conference in San Antonio, Texas, SAVOR beer and food pairing event in Washington, D.C., and HomebrewCon in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Great American Beer Festival, the BA’s largest consumer-facing event and the largest beer festival and competition in the U.S., is still slated to take place September 24-27 in Denver, Colorado.

Popular regional beer festivals have also pulled the plug on their 2020 events, including the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland, Oregon, Bend Brewfest in Bend, Oregon, and Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, Wisconsin.

Without its annual mid-May Oklahoma Craft Beer Summit — a reliable fundraiser — the Craft Brewers Association of Oklahoma (CBOA) was facing a potential loss of thousands of dollars. A creative solution was needed.

CBOA treasurer and COOP Ale Works director of sales and marketing Sean Mossman told Brewbound. “Just one day, kind of organically, it was like, ‘Hey, what if we move this online? What if we made this virtual?’” “Well, that would be cool, but then it’s just a conversation — how do we do beer? How do we make this a beer festival?”

The Oklahoma Craft Beer Summit ’20 Quarantine Edition was born and planned in about a week, with the blessing of the Alcoholic Beverage Law Enforcement (ABLE) Commission of Oklahoma, Mossman said.

Tickets for the sold-out virtual festival on May 15 came with a plethora of beers to sample and an evening of guided tastings and panel discussions about styles, brewing and the beer industry.
Guests purchased tickets that included a kit of 24 beers from breweries across Oklahoma. Kits could be retrieved at designated pickup locations strategically placed across the state, where IDs would be checked against tickets, a provision of the ABLE Commission.

With the help of sponsors and “monstrously low overhead,” Mossman said the virtual festival has helped the CBOA raise multiple times more money than a traditional in-person festival.

“We’re spending about $3,000 to raise about $50,000, so we’re pretty fortunate,” he said. “This would take us probably three festivals to generate this much revenue. And really, our only real expense as a guild is probably our lobbyists at the Capitol. We’re pretty self-governed and self-run, but that is our biggest expense, and it’s the most necessary expense.”

Untappd will also host a virtual beer festival online on June 13 and 14.

Participants have the option of two experiences — one with beer shipped to them and one in which they purchase their own. The Drinking Socially Package costs $89.99 and includes 11 beers to samples during two virtual panels, $10 gift cards to the Untappd merchandise store and Half Time Beverage, the event’s retail partner and beer shipper. Beer packages can be shipped to ZIP codes in 28 states and Washington, D.C., according to local laws.

The Stay at Home Stream package costs $15 and includes access to the virtual panels and is available everywhere.

A portion of sales from both tickets will be donated to the Restaurant Strong Fund, which supports out-of-work service industry employees.

Harpoon Brewery’s annual five-mile road race has taken runners through the streets of the brewery’s Boston neighborhood for 18 years, but this weekend, the 19th edition of the fundraising race will be virtual.

The company’s website said “Run, walk, pushrim, handcycle, or skip 5 miles on Sunday, May 17th from your house, on a treadmill or on a trail using proper safety precautions,”.

Entrants received a printable bib to wear during their run and a race bag filled with gifts from sponsors in the mail. Some race packages included T-shirts and beer and a ticket to a festival at the brewery in the future. The race raises funds for the Angel Fund for ALS Research.

More than 3,000 runners have signed up, according to director of digital strategy Megan Baker.


California ABC Investigation Finds Delivery Apps Allowing Minors to Order Alcohol

An investigation by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) found that third-party delivery services are “routinely delivering alcoholic beverages to minors,” according to an industry advisory posted by the regulatory agency and reported on by the the Washington Post and The Verge.

The ABC wrote “Most concerning is that minors are routinely able to purchase alcohol through delivery from restaurants,”. “There have been instances in which the licensee’s own employees have done so, but a far greater rate has been evident among third-party delivery services. Licensees are responsible for these unlawful deliveries, and the Department encourages licensees to review the practices of these services and their reliance on them.”

The ABC added that it has found that employees of third-party delivery services are “largely” ignoring guidelines setup to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.

In the advisory, the ABC reminded licensees that they are ultimately responsible for the delivery of alcoholic beverages away from their premises, even if those deliveries are made on their behalf by third-party services, and are “subject to arrest and criminal prosecution.” “This is so no matter what assurances the delivery service may have provided to the licensee,” the ABC stated.

Idaho-Based Hardware Brewing Company Defies Executive Order, Risks License

Kendrick, Idaho-based brewpub Hardware Brewing Company is at risk of losing its alcoholic beverage license after reopening in defiance of Gov. Brad Little’s executive order shutting down bars and restaurants, the Lewiston Tribune reported, citing a letter sent to the brewpub by the Idaho State Police.

Although Little’s reopening plan would allow Hardware Brewing to open potentially on May 16 as part of a second wave of business reopenings if the state doesn’t record a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, the brewpub reopened to the public on May 1, including Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin.

Hardware co-owners Morgan, Doug and Christine Lohman discussed reopening on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News program Monday night. Christine Lohman explained that Hardware attempted “to survive on takeout” but there wasn’t enough business.

“It is a destination place,” she said. “They do not drive 35 miles or more for me to come out in a hazmat suit and hand them a burger, so we’re starving slowly.”

The conversation spilled over to the brewpub’s Facebook page, where the Hardware account stated:
“This virus is totally overblown and is not killing the productive and healthy in our society.”
Morgan Lohman told Ingraham that the family has hired San Francisco-based lawyer Harmeet Dhillon to represent the company. Dhillon specializes in “commercial litigation, employment law, First Amendment rights and election law matters,” according to her firm’s website.

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