Quick Hits: New Brewery Permits Backlogged In New York, Major Craft Beer Festival At SeaWorld Orlando

American Craft Beer|August 9th, 2021|

(Courtesy SeaWorld Orlando)

The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening while you were drinking your way through the weekend.

Move Over Flipper, Major Craft Beer Festival Returns to SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld Orlando has been celebrating the region’s vibrant craft beer and distilling scene for years now, leaving other major theme parks like Disneyworld and Universal in the dust. Unfortunately in 2020 the resort had to cancel its annual craft beer festival due to COVID-19, but on August 13 SeaWorld Orlando is returning its three day events which will run every weekend through Sept. 12.

The Craft Beer Festival at SeaWorld features more than 100 craft beers from the nation’s best brewers plus a specially curated wine and seltzer selection featuring some of Florida’s most accomplished artisans.

Words to Drink By

“It’s not a business….it’s a lifestyle, and the one I have happily chosen.” – David Walker, Co-Founder Firestone Walker Brewing on the beer biz.

New Brewers Push for Temporary Permits in New York

If you think that the pandemic may have altered the growth of the craft brewing industry, at least in New York, you’d better think again because there is major backlog of new brewery permits in the state that has many asking for a temporary licensing so they can move forward.

Responding to delays that can take as much as six month, state legislators have unanimously passed a bill that would allow issuance of six-month temporary permits. But that bill is awaiting Governor Cuomo’s signature and he’s currently dodging all kinds of political bullets, so who knows when he will get to it.

“With 485 breweries in operation statewide, New York is second only to California in number of beer makers,” reports the Daily Gazette, and given that NY wineries are afforded this option, Paul Leone, executive director of the New York State Brewers Association calls this bill, which is currently sitting on the governor’s desk, a “no-brainer.”