Downtown breweries, distilleries still a few months away (sales, loan)

[Airforceguy]

The city planning commission deferred action Monday on changing the zoning ordinance to allow smaller alcohol manufacturers to operate outside industrial zones.

In the meantime, board members will tour two local microbreweries, seek public feedback and study various aspects of the proposed ordinance, such as how much alcohol a brewer or distiller can manufacture under the new special exception, Planning Director Melanie Wilson said.

The Augusta code already allowed brewpubs, where homemade beer is sold in restaurants with food, and allows breweries in industrial zones.

But new definitions under consideration include the “nano-brewery,” which would allow the retail sale of up to 3,000 barrels per year, and the “pico-brewery,” permitting the sale of up to 500 barrels.

“Everybody has been talking about microbreweries,” Wilson said. “The discussion should have been nano-breweries and pico-breweries.”

The Broad Street entertainment district doesn’t have that much space for larger brewing operations, which require large amounts of water, storage and other resources, while limiting the amount a brewer can make protects those who’ve invested in larger microbreweries nearby, she said.

“The picos are great because they’re really small start-up breweries,” Wilson said. “That’s perfect to be in a downtown area.”

The owner of Augusta microbrewery Riverwatch Brewing, Brey Sloan, said she would have loved to locate downtown but was told by city officials the zoning code did not allow it.

Downtown breweries, distilleries still a few months away | The Augusta Chronicle

[Worren]

If the CSRA is to grow the people who make these decisions must quit thinking it is 1920. Blue laws are a relic of the past in most areas. Not allowing Sunday sales and restricting alcohol sales just drive those who wish to imbibe to areas that allow it. Even with Richmond County's archaic alcohol laws we still read about DUI arrests and see advertisements from lawyers who make a handsome profit from those caught. Business pay taxes and fees. With the administrator looking for ways to meet the budget, who really cares where tax revenue comes from?