Submitted by rollotomasi07071 t3_10q1ami in newjersey
I hope this changes, this system is so archaic.
I went Googling and NJ posts an excel spreadsheet of all of the liquor license holders in the state. I was surprised to see that in my township, we have an inactive consumption license which is owned by the same person who has a distribution license for the only liquor store in our township. They've been holding the retail consumption license hostage since 2013, presumably to force people to their liquor store. That feels wrong to me.
Got a link to the spreadsheet?
I hope he adjusts the brewery laws as well. They are killing any microbreweries for starting in NJ.
Does that work? It's hard to share because the Google link is a direct download.
Yep Thanks
if by "he" you mean murphy - he has done as much as he can do, it is up to legislators to do something
Here in NW Jersey, we have so few decent restaurants. For being about 20 miles from NYC, we can't attract anything new and interesting, just the same bland and salty red-sauce Italian.
I think the liquor laws are a big part of this. It's crushing the profitability by doing away with such a large way to drive margins. I get that they're valuable investments to those holding them, but so were taxi medallions. Ultimately, it was an investment hurting the rest of us.
Yes, because we all know that the only thing that New Jersey needs is more places to buy booze!
You mean you think it might actually be a decent idea to allow breweries to have tvs and play music???? Get out of here!
But, the stupid laws weren't written by the legislature. It was the ABC.
There are so many liquor stores in NJ it’s astounding. My tiny town has one and they are opening another a block away. Why do we need two liquor stores mere feet from each other? No surprise they voted no on dispensaries.
Wait, breweries can't have TVs and music?
Well, they can technically have two, under a certain size screen.
And all music has to be under a certain decibel level, or it's considered an "event", which is restricted to a certain number per year.
Also no other beverages. Coffee or sprite is strictly illegal.
Fun stuff.
It's the restaurant lobby, sponsored mostly by large chain restaurants, that have gotten us here. They say that it's so unfair that breweries don't have to bid to get a liquor license from their town. Those poor poor Applebee's being pushed out of the way by the entitled, uppity craft breweries.
From the article -
"holders of manufacturing licenses, brewers were “given privileges they weren’t entitled to: selling beer by the glass and hosting special events.”
If breweries want to be unshackled, “get the right license,” Weiss instructed,"
>Well, they can technically have two, under a certain size screen.
Yeah looked it up...under 65" lol. That's such a silly thing to even restrict size.
>Also no other beverages. Coffee or sprite is strictly illegal.
Nothing like shooting down alternatives for breweries to promote and better include designated drivers for safer roads, which when I last checked are the densest (or at least near the top) in the country.
I guess the real solution is to eliminate the liquor license quantity rules.
I never knew all these extra rules you listed, and admittedly I haven't been to a whole lot of breweries here, but now that I think about it they are very "bare" and the no food/alternative drinks/limited entertainment BS explains it.
Great, as if going out to dinner these days wasn't expensive enough. Goodbye BYOs....$12 per glass of wine it is then.
There's loopholes around it. You can have both but I believe you can't show live events at breweries. Bar and restaurant owners want to maintain their customers so they limit the abilities of breweries with super nit picky laws. They're trying to pass another where you can only have ~60 events a year. This includes participating in events not only hosting. It's really a shame how greedy other small business owners are that they destroy an emerging market as opposed to find a mutually beneficial situation.
So call your legislature to tell them to support the Brewers guild of NJ and if you see an IPA called Brew Jersey from any NJ brewery buy it since the funds supports the guild.
Should be limited by the date of purchase and only applied to relatively recent purchase of a liquor license.
Older holders already had the massive benefit of the limited supply.
>They're trying to pass another where you can only have ~60 events a year. This includes participating in events not only hosting.
Jesus, that's so sad. I'm guessing this includes beer festivals, which is most of my exposure to new/different breweries. It's not like bars are at festivals promoting their beer lol.
Personally I'm not a frequent drinker, but I do find the atmosphere of breweries to be much better than a bar, seems much more personal and intimate. A shame that the guys on top would rather stop emerging businesses vs adapting themselves.
You do realize you don't have to drink alcohol with a meal, right?
I absolutely HATE that I have to go to a liquor store to get some beer on the way to a party or something, instead of swinging by a convenience store or buying it at the grocery store. Massachusetts has similar laws (you have to buy from a liquor store), but there's not these dumb limits of the number of permits issued by population as well.
Hopefully they pass this and let you have the option to pump your own gas.
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Edit: I actually read the bill and it really won't change anything. NJ is stupid.
If you could buy beer at the convenience store/grocery store like a normal place, there probably wouldn’t be so many. There are delis near my house that are “liquor stores” just so they can sell a small selection of beer. It’s dumb
Please change the law that only 2 costco's can carry alcohol!!!
I don’t understand how this day in age we have bars that don’t serve food! There should be a law that if you are serving alcohol you must serve food
That won’t go away. NYC has plenty of restaurants that’s are BYO or charge a corkage fee. The only time you pay a corkage fee in NJ is if the restaurant has a liquor license, and even then, it’s worth it.
PhatSaint t1_j6nobhn wrote
>Legislation in recent years — and Murphy’s recent remarks — called for
reforms that would add new licenses. Those opposed to these changes said
adding new liquor licenses would immediately devalue the businesses of
current license holders. They emphasize that this would be unfair to
those who invested in purchasing a license. Singleton said his
legislation instead focuses on already existing licenses. According to
estimates cited by Singleton, there are between 1,000 and 1,400 inactive
liquor licenses in New Jersey.
Honestly this sounds like a "Too bad" kind of situation. The liquor license situation is terribly outdated and I'm not sure this bill to expand purchases outside municipalities is much of a practical solution. I think a better solution would be to get rid of the system all together and then maybe have the state offer a "stimulus" system for small-businesses to help them recover the some of the cost they put into buying liquor licenses.