Pennsylvania breweries eye expansion into distilling spirits
By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square
HAWLEY, PA – Pennsylvania breweries could expand into distilling spirits if proposed legislation becomes law.
The House Majority Policy Committee met on Wednesday at Wallenpaupack Brewing Company in the Poconos to hear testimony on House Bill 2757 from regulators, brewers, and the tourism industry.
“This pro-business legislation will allow a single entity to hold and operate a brewery license and a distillery license at the same location,” Rep. Jonathan Fritz, R-Honesdale, wrote in a legislative memo. “Furthermore, the legislation will allow a licensee who operates a brewery and limited distillery license to be considered a single entity for the purposes of on-premises consumption.”
The meeting, Fritz said, “is part of a very earnest effort to make Pennsylvania more competitive.” He worried about how border states are outpacing the commonwealth.
“Other states, frankly, have been eating our lunch,” Fritz said. “Neighboring states have been pilfering our young talent and our opportunity. Pennsylvania has every necessary characteristic to make us a major economic engine and competitor.”
Breweries have been an economic bright spot. Though overall beer production has declined in recent years, from 3.9 million barrels in 2016 to 3.16 million barrels in 2020, a post-pandemic increase occurred in 2021, when the industry produced 3.24 million barrels. Pennsylvania has 486 craft breweries, second in the nation. The proposed bill could grant breweries the ability to expand like breweries in other states.
The bill would “give us some added flexibility,” said Adam Harris, executive director of Brewers of Pennsylvania, a trade group. “Ohio, Maryland, and New York all can do what this bill would allow us to do.”
Breweries have become part of a tourist draw across the commonwealth. The state’s tourism agency promotes beer trails to attract visitors and, since the pandemic, has shifted focus to Pennsylvanians rather than out-of-state tourists.
“We actually began to market more aggressively within the state,” said Chris Barrett, president of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. They targeted residents around Johnstown, Altoona and Pittsburgh. “We don’t want to have to totally depend on New York and Philadelphia.”
While the bill could make it easier for breweries to expand into spirits, capital investment remains a barrier. Costs for starting or expanding a brewery can run into the millions of dollars. Recruiting workers, too, remains difficult.
“Our biggest issue right now has been employment, trying to get people back to work,” said Becky Ryman, co-owner of Wallenpaupack Brewing. “A lot of the community, I think, has been priced out.”
The problem isn’t necessarily a wage issue, either. Ryman noted she provides workers with retirement benefits and above-average wages, but the cost of living gives trouble.
“Even with all these wages and benefits, housing pricing locally has been an issue for us. For apartments, we’ve seen a lot of their rents increase – double,” Ryman said, and workers instead move to Scranton, 30 miles away.
