Economic Boom of NJ Craft Breweries
Craft beer in NJ has been an economic boom for our Garden State. So why am I saying this well, let me elaborate on how this unfolded.
Let us start with how we got here. It started in 1992 when craft brewing was just on the cusp of growing, realizing the potential positive impact craft beer would have on our great garden state elected official amended its archaic liquor license to permit craft breweries. When I say our liquor law is archaic, I mean it. I will fully elaborate at this later. So back to the crafting beginnings of NJ Craft Beer. The state established a Limited Brewery License which enabled a craft brewery to brew not more than 300,00 barrels of thirty-one fluid gallons capacity per year. Additionally, a craft brewer may sell and distribute to wholesalers in NJ and out of state. The best part is the affordability of these licenses. Instead of the hundreds of thousands of dollars and upwards to million dollars for liquor licenses which i will explain further down in this article how NJ liquor licenses are permitted, a craft brewery license in NJ costs $1,250 for a brewery that brews up to 50,000 barrels $2,500 for a brewery that brews 50,000 to 100,000 barrels and $5,000 for 100,000 to 200,000 barrels. Please note the difference between breweries and restaurants who have the overpriced liquor licenses, is that breweries cannot serve food. You can bring in as much food as you want to a brewery and many breweries have staples of restaurants where you can order out from.
In 2012 NJ changed one of the most important aspects of craft beer and enabled craft brewers to serve tastings of beer within their premises as part of a “tour”. I will leave the tour in quotations for reasons people who go to NJ Craft Breweries will understand. Why I say this is important is this is one of the best things a craft brewer can provide. There is nothing like going to a new or staple brewery and sitting down at a bar and ordering a flight of beers. What is a flight you may ask? It is a sample of beers usually four at a time in 4 oz pours. That is a flight for me at Brix City brewery in Little Ferry NJ, down the street from Hackensack. This is a way to try the usually ample selection of beers, to taste, to sample, and enjoy. Beers you can taste could be a wide variety but not limited to pilsners, ipas, stouts, ambers, sours and any new crafted brews that are under development all being brewed on site. There were some craft brewers before this law, like Climax brewery in Roselle Park being the oldest operating brewery in NJ. However, let us get back to this economic boom.
The craft beer scene led to new jobs in our garden state. What type of jobs you may ask? Well, let us get going because there are plenty of them. Let us start with entrepreneurship. It led to creative minds, who many had a hobby of crafting beer at home and to their friends. So, with this new affordable license it created opportunity. One does not jump into this opportunity without a sense of entrepreneurship. So, these entrepreneurs started looking at real estate to open their breweries. As some for someone is involved in zoning on a daily basis, the beginning days of permitting new breweries was a challenge. Local town boards did not know how to classify these uses. But interesting enough breweries evolved into a manufacturing use. Hence many of the beginning stages of the brewery were grown in the manufacturing/industrial zones of NJ. So, let us get back to the jobs. Who makes beer? Well brewers of course. What do brewers need? Well, they need assistants to make sure hops are brewing to get the tasty ipas. With this tasty beer you can now provide samples. What do the tastings jobs create? Well bartenders of course and servers. You need someone to provide you with the tastings, flights and pints. Besides tasting on site, you can take beer to go. Brewers need a canning process and labels to graphically depict their new creations. With artwork come graphic designers to create the artwork and mechanical engineers to manage the canning process. But how does this beer get delivered? Add truck drivers and warehouse workers to the job list. Then with this digital age, who manages their social media accounts, and webpage. Marketing coordinators. Now I am not saying all these jobs are created for each brewery as I know many brewery employees wear multiple hats in doing these jobs. Still there is no doubt that breweries have led to a wide array of job creation in NJ. What is the economic dollar amount of all these jobs? I am not an economist, but a planner so I am not sure. But it is a lot. But that is not all. Besides the jobs created there are events at breweries that create opportunities for musicians, comedians, trivia night hosts etc.…Then there are craft beer festivals like Brew at the Zoo at Turtle Back Zoo and the Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival, and Crafts and Drafts events helped organized by a Cranford marketing and events company Marketspace Space Vendors. These events bring an economic boost to the communities that hold these events.
If you have gone to a brewery, you know there is a community element to it. It is a place where one can relax, drink some good brews, bring your kids (depending on the brewery) and maybe meet some new friends. Also, many breweries understand this community element created outdoor seating so you can even enjoy some brews outside. Nothing like a nice day with a nice brew outside with some friends.
What is the growth of breweries in NJ? According to New Jersey Craft Beer.com a leading promoter of NJ Craft beer and where there is a membership card which gives discounts at breweries, there are a total of 134 breweries in NJ. These breweries range from breweries in industrial parks like the old staple Kane, the newer kid on the block Icarus and Magnify to breweries located in the heart of downtowns like Wet Ticket in Rahway and Yale Terrace in my hometown of Cranford, to breweries locate in rural areas with like the Source brewing company.
However, it is not all been peachy for NJ Craft Breweries. Those who live in NJ probably know, but those outside NJ don’t, but NJ has one of the most archaic liquor laws in the country. First there are 564 municipalities in NJ. Each one of them (unless they are dry towns - there are a couple out there) has their own liquor licenses. Eligible liquor licenses are based on the population where one liquor license is eligible for every 7,500 persons. What this means is that there are limited liquor licenses in each municipality. What does this mean? Liquor licenses can cost a boat load of money. From hundreds of thousands to over millions of dollars. With this, the liquor license holders’ frown upon the craft brewers who pay less than $2,500 to brew beer. This has led to legislation pushed by the liquor licenses holders to put up walls to the NJ Craft Brewers. This recently occurred July 1st when the number of events such as music and trivia night on site is limited to a certain number of events per years and food trucks have been prohibited to sell their food on the craft brewer premises. This has led to an uproar from NJ Craft Breweries and campaigns aimed at emailing and notifying NJ elected officials on what these laws' impacts will have NJ Craft Breweries. The result has yet to be decided but as you expected I am on the NJ Craft Brewers side.
The NJ Craft Brewery growth has exponentially grown. This is evident by the number of breweries in the state. What impact this has had on NJ is an economic boom for the garden state. With closing, go to your local brewery, have a flight, a pint, meet some new friends and support NJ Craft Breweries.