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It’s tough starting a new craft beer business. Upfront costs can be challenging and state and local regulations daunting…..So when legislators actually do the right thing and enact laws that really help – they deserve their props. And we’re giving them to the statesmen of New Hampshire who’ve recently made things a whole lot easier for nano-breweries!
Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be an exact definition for nano-brewery. But one thing’s for sure – they’re small. Jeff Alworth, of the Portland-based beer blog Beervana defines them as “three barrels or less, which essentially makes them large-scale homebrewers.” Even the Brewers Association, who are in the business of designing designations, waffles. “It’s either a production brewery or a brewery-restaurant,” said Erin Glass the Brewer’s Association Membership Coordinator. “It’s a commonly understood term but not defined.”
Nano-breweries are an increasingly popular segment of the craft brewing world and they’ve been growing in New Hampshire. Many of these breweries don’t brew more than one batch at a time. Nano-breweries like those in New Hampshire are considered by many to be might be the natural evolution of the home brewer’s art. They’re brewers who think small and big at the same time! These small-batch entrepreneurs are all about producing and drinking craft beer locally – and they’re a vibrant addition to the “Granite State’s” regional economy.
New Hampshire’s law was designed to help nano-brewers like Portsmouth-based Earth Eagle Brewing. Gretyl Macalester, writing for the Union Leader, explains that the brewery can now “brew up to 2,000 barrels a year, serve four-ounce samples in its tasting room, and fill growlers on site without having to serve food,” because of these new regulations.
Macalester goes on to report that this law also makes it more affordable for small start-up brewers like Earth Eagle Brewing to enter the marketplace:
The cost of a state license for a nanobrewery is (now) significantly less than for a microbrewery at $240 annually. A microbrewery, like Smuttynose, can brew up to 60,000 barrels a year but pays an annual licensing fee of $1,200.
And what’s happening in New Hampshire is happening everywhere as legislators wake up to the immense economic power that craft beer can bring to their states and their regional communities – even at the smallest of levels.
