To our great disappointment, the State of New Jersey has issued a Special Ruling that severely harms the way breweries may interact with their customers and communities in their tap rooms. This ruling will set New Jersey back in terms of beer culture and tourism, and disproportionately harms small and up and coming nano breweries.

As of today breweries will only be permitted to host 25 events annually to include: music, trivia, education, charity, community, fitness & wellness, religious, and animal welfare events. These 25 events will be subject to approval by the state. We must remove food menus from local restaurants. We can not show sporting events on TV. We will be limited in hosting private celebrations. These are just some of the draconian restrictions and red tape that will now be required of all New Jersey taprooms.

The hardest part of the ruling is knowing that this ultimately hurts our community, the local businesses and family owned restaurants, the musicians and artists, the charity and civic organizations we do our best to support, and the customers who we have come to know and become close to.

Today was a resounding victory for wealthy lobbies and special interests. It was a sad defeat for small businesses and revitalizing communities across our state.

We’re sorry. We will fight. We will not relent. We will need your help.