Wow. We got a lot of quick and insightful responses, thanks so much. I’ll elaborate some here since there were a lot of questions.
In SC, you can be a micro (off premise sales only) or a brewpub (on premise only). You cannot do both. We are asking to be able to operate as both.
We DO NOT want to pull out of bars and restaurants if we can help it. However, we are at the point where something needs to change for us and It’s not just financial either. We want to be able to hold special events at our place, see people enjoy the beer we work so hard on, etc… but yes, finances are a factor and so is our time and stress. We are absolutely overworked and are running full steam to keep up with demand while trying to actually make money at it-. Being the small size we are, it’s damn near impossible, which is why you don’t see small breweries operating here, it’s just too regulated and tough. That being said, we are so thankful to everyone who has supported us since day one, we wouldn’t be here now without that.
In short, this bill has to pass, not just for us. It is sink or swim time for SC to join the craft beer movement and without better laws for breweries we’ll never be a real beer state. We are doing everything we can to continue making beer that we are so proud of. I’ll send out more info on the bill as soon as it happens.
You can check out our new website in development:
www.southcarolinabeer.org
(Pop the Cap has now become SC Brewer’s Association).
Cheers!