Listen to this article

As part of an effort to support the growth of New Jersey’s craft brewing industry, lawmakers are considering a measure that would advertise and promote locally based alcohol beverage makers, as well as the retailers who sell those products.

Under Senate Bill 3970/Assembly Bill 4799, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, in conjunction with the state Division of Travel and Tourism, would develop and launch the “Jersey Craft Beverage Retailer Promotion and Grant Program.”

Through the initiative, holders of plenary retail consumption licenses, seasonal retail consumption licenses or plenary retail distribution licenses could become eligible for grants of up to $2,500 annually to use on improvements and service enhancements.

To be considered, businesses would need to have at least 10% of annual sales revenue derived from products manufactured by the holder of a limited brewery license, restricted brewery license, farm brewery license, cidery and meadery license, or craft distillery license.

Grants for the “Certified Jersey Craft Alcohol Beverage Retailer” program would be disbursed by a fund credited with 50% of the receipts from the per gallon tax imposed on sales of beer, cider, mead and liquors sold by holders of a limited brewery license, restricted brewery license, farm brewery license, cidery and meadery license, or craft distillery license.

The legislation also tasks NJEDA with establishing guidelines for eligible license holders, application timelines and associated reporting requirements.

Acceptable uses for the grants include capital improvements or purchasing goods and services that help a business promote and sell New Jersey craft alcohol beverages, according to the bill.

Initially, the grant program stands to channel between $200,000 and $300,000 in funding annually to anywhere from 100 to 200 retailers, according to Eric Orlando, executive director of the Brewers Guild of New Jersey. The advocacy organization represents the state public policy interests of New Jersey’s independent craft breweries and brewpubs in the region’s ultra-competitive beverage market.

“The first batch of grantees and the amounts of money they’d get is not going to be a huge number based on the projections that we have in terms of the excise taxes that are being collected and divided into 50%. But we think that if this program proves successful and if it does grow the sales and distribution of craft beverages, you’re going to have more money available potentially, which then in future years can then increase the amount of money available to the program to more retailers,” Orlando said.

“And then as the word gets out, folks go, ‘Hey, wait a minute, there’s opportunities for me here to leverage money that is produced by the industry to make the various capital improvements that I need to be able to sell their products.’ Whether it be contributing toward refrigeration, whether it be contributed toward rehabbing a bar or a tap system, things that really go into effectively marketing and selling these products.”

Brewed in NJ

The proposal also calls for advertising campaigns and marketing programs to raise consumer awareness of New Jersey-made craft beer and the restaurants, bars and liquor stores who source from local breweries, cideries and distilleries.

Scott Wells, co-owner of Bolero Snort Brewery in Carlstadt and board member of the Brewers Guild of New Jersey, believes the bill could help push back against the hold that out-of-state distributors have on the taps at restaurants and bars in New Jersey.

“The idea is to get behind different programs that the state could better support the restaurants who do choose to work with the local vendors,” he explained.

“The biggest challenge on my end is breaking through that all to get a presence at the local bars … You’ve got a very small subset of the bar industry that buys New Jersey beer … And they’re rotating through beer regularly to support as many as 180 brewers in the state. So, there’s only so much tap space,” Wells said.

“The bulk of bars in the state don’t rotate their lines frequently or at all,” he said. “Many of them are now buying craft beer, but they’re buying it from the same distributors that they’re buying their Miller or their Budweiser from. In many of those cases, they’re buying it because they’re getting volume discounts from those distributors and they’re buying it because they’re getting support from those distributors as well,” Wells said.

He went on to say, “You can look at what we do from different angles. We have the tasting room revenue, which is kind of a small factor compared to everything else. But when you look at distribution, which is obviously the goal of a craft brewery and building out a larger business, you really cannot have an impact in any area of your distribution or your off-premise sales if you don’t have a solid presence in your on-premise sales. So, what I mean by that is it’s very difficult to sell cans of beer in any communities where you don’t have a draft presence at the bars and restaurants.”

“When you look at the number of beers that are out there, the average bar and the average restaurant won’t have a lot of local beer … Without having that solid presence at those draft locations, it becomes very difficult to build up a customer base for the rest of your distribution. So, people aren’t going into that local Bottle King to grab your cans because they’re going to buy what they’re familiar with from when they’re eating out at a restaurant,” Wells said.

Wells said, “We want to reward the restaurants and retailers that are working with the local guys. They’re doing a lot for us. We’re trying to get them the incentives to continue while at the same time hopefully trying to turn a corner with a lot of the other guys that do not support in-state breweries. And maybe see if we can get them on board supporting New Jersey’s breweries as opposed to just out-of-state breweries.”

Going flat

Besides giving a boost to the craft brewing scene and providing patrons with more local options, the bill aims to strengthen the bond between New Jersey manufacturers and retailers, setting the stage for success.

While it is one of the country’s fastest growing industries, New Jersey remains well behind other states when it comes to economic impact, breweries per capita and beer produced.

As of 2023, the total economic impact of craft beer in New Jersey was $1.7 billion, giving it a ranking of 16th in the U.S., according to the national trade group Brewers Association.

With 171 craft breweries, the state ranks 41st when it comes to breweries per capita. In 2023, New Jersey’s industry produced 205,801 barrels, making it the 26th largest producer nationally.

The bipartisan legislation comes as the industry continues to try and move past a challenging period marked by rising costs, shifting rules on how breweries can operate and pandemic-related restrictions.

Between 2019 and 2025, the state’s brewery count has fallen from roughly 180 to about 140. More than two-thirds of those closures occurred since the summer of 2020, according to the Brewers Guild of New Jersey.

The state’s craft beer boom began in 2012, when then-Gov. Chris Christie signed a law that allowed microbreweries and brewpubs the ability to expand annual production and distribution of products through the existing wholesale system. As part of the reform, the annual cap on production was raised from 3,000 barrels of beer to 10,000.

The change also gave breweries the option of serving and selling more products onsite.

However, the industry experienced a setback in 2019. In a move to balance the interests of full retail license holders – such as bars and restaurants – with the growing craft brewing industry, the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control handed down a special ruling that resulted in several new regulations.

Along with limits on the number of on-site events a brewery could hold, the rules banned businesses from offering food, coordinating with food trucks and serving coffee. They also required breweries to give patrons a tour of the facility before they could consume alcohol. The changes went into effect in July 2022.

Following concerns from stakeholders that the restrictions could put them out of business or force them across state lines, lawmakers began looking to roll back those measures to help New Jersey breweries compete with counterparts in nearby states.

As part of an effort to revamp the state’s Prohibition-era liquor license laws, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill easing the controversial food and event limits. The January 2024 law also increased the number of barrels a brewery can manufacture from 10,000 to 300,000.

“We’re now only starting to realize its potential,” said Orlando. “We had some impediments that were put in place … that we had to overcome. That set us back a couple of years.”

“We are, to a certain extent, trying to put a lot of the things that have happened in the past five years behind us and figure out ways that we can better partner with where we think the growth opportunities are for craft beer in the state,” he continued.

“We’ve seen folks like the state’s wine industry doing a great job in promoting itself and working with the state to come up with ways to try to promote the industry and some of the local suppliers of the industry in terms of raw materials and goods and services,” he said.

Tapping new ideas

Nationally, roughly 12% of beer consumed in any individual state is made by a local craft brewery within its borders. In New Jersey, less than 3% of all beer is produced by an in-state limited or restricted brewery, according to Wells.

“The reality is New Jersey as a state doesn’t do a good job of supporting its craft breweries. We’re way behind the averages for the entire country … So, we’re trying to modernize that and catch up with states where the industry is really doing a fantastic job,” he said.

Orlando cited neighboring Pennsylvania and New York, which are among the top ranked states in terms of production and number of craft breweries. In 2023, Pennsylvania had 530 breweries (ranked 3rd) and produced 3.1 million barrels of craft beer (ranked 2nd). New York had 539 breweries (ranked 2nd) and produced 1.4 million barrels of craft beer (ranked 4th).

Since New Jersey is in a similar market, Orlando believes it should take some cues from what lawmakers across those borders have done to prop up their industries.

“Whether it would be incentive programs, promotional opportunities or straight up changes to the license structure, you try to see what has worked in those types of places, which has led to their excessive growth and try to adapt it here,” said Orlando, who added that S3970/A47911 is partially modeled on Pennsylvania laws.

“I think it’s safe to say that the number of retail outlets that are out there are not going to increase to a great extent anytime soon. There’s not going to be a huge new batch of liquor stores being created or restaurants because of the cap on the amount of liquor licensees that exist,” Orlando said. “And we believe that this is one of the tools in the toolbox to help gain, win back and secure shelf space.”

He went on, “Some of the other states had maybe a decade or two jumpstart … So, they have a general acceptance and culture around craft beer. Also, I think just the nature of the alcohol system here has been very connected to decades-old philosophies and decades-old laws that necessarily haven’t supported kind of like this nascent industry.”

Wells said, “When you’re talking about modeling these states where you see a lot more success, there is a lot more kinship and there is a lot more of that sense of pride for the local breweries.”

“Here’s an example of how some of the relationships in New Jersey have been damaged over the years,” Wells said. “Years ago, certain bars were boycotting New Jersey breweries because their rationale was that breweries were devaluing their licenses … by having TVs, trivia nights and things of that nature.”

Under New Jersey’s strict liquor license laws, the ability to sell alcohol is a coveted right — one that business owners are willing to shell out as much as $1 million for to secure via the private market.

“At the same time, those specific bars were buying a lot of beer from breweries right over the Delaware River, 10 minutes away that host concerts every week, have full kitchens and a lot more rights and privileges than New Jersey breweries do,” Wells said. “So, there’s this sense of ‘we’re okay with supporting breweries that do these things out of the state as long as they don’t do it here.’”

Sobering challenge

Given the growing competition in the market – which includes mocktails, ready-to-drink canned cocktails and THC-infused drinks – Orlando stressed the need to help local brewers secure shelf space and tap handles.

According to the Brewers Association, non-alcoholic beer was one of the hottest market trends last year. Between January and October, non-alcohol beer sales were up 30%. By comparison, national beer sales dropped 2%.

Along with declining beer sales, small breweries across the U.S. are struggling with higher costs for grain, raw materials and shipping. In 2024, the number of breweries declined, with 335 openings and 399 closures, the Brewers Association said.

“What we’ve fought for over the last couple of years – people kind of laughed at the premise, like ‘Is it such a big deal to have a TV in the tasting room or be able to do an event?’  Well, you’re trying to create hospitable environments, a brand and an experience so that those folks return home saying, ‘OK, I want to buy their beer other places, too,’” Orlando said. “We’re trying to afford our breweries the ability to compete and get into places where the consumer is going for their alcohol – and that’s bars, restaurants and liquor stores.”

“The numbers show there’s a lot of room for growth in New Jersey. Not only for production, but the amount of breweries that the state could potentially support. Programs like this hope to continue to support the potential trend that could be there,” he said.

Orlando feels positive about the bill’s prospects in Trenton.

“In the last couple of years with what we went through and the outreach that we did to try to win back the privileges for the industry, I think we were able to really create some great relationships with folks in the Legislature,” he said. “Now that you have 140 breweries operating throughout the state, every single legislator has a reason why to support legislation like this because they have a brewery – or a dozen breweries – in their district. And I think that’s why we’ve gotten some traction on this legislation. They see that their constituents love their local brewery and want to see them succeed.”

Following its September 2024 introduction by Assemblymen Alex Sauickie, R-12th District, and William Spearman, D-5th District, the legislation was sent to the Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee. A companion bill backed by state Sens. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, D-5th District, and Kristin Corrado, R-40th District, cleared the Economic Growth Committee last month and has since been referred to the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

“Craft brewing is part of New Jersey’s heritage, dating back to colonial times. In fact, canned beers were first sold by the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Co. in Newark,” said Cruz-Perez, who chairs the Senate Economic Growth Committee. “Today, our craft brewing industry is booming, and to maintain that growth we need to support the industry. This bill will do just that, helping consumers identify New Jersey craft beverages and promoting our brewers across the state.”