Oklahoma breweries are a week away from being able to sell beer on site, but whether you can have a pint there is still up in the air.
The ABLE Commission believes Senate Bill 424 only allows breweries to sell beer for customers to take home, while brewers have worked off the assumption they can sell you a pint to drink there, too.
Marshall Brewing owner Eric Marshall said with that in mind, several brewers have made big investments they can’t back out of now.
"Craft brewing's a very capital-intensive business, and the outlay on that, to sort of be struck down on some of those senses, it really hurts," Marshall said. "It really hurts the small business and really hurts the consumers of Oklahoma, too."
ABLE Commission Director A. Keith Burt said it was just within the last two weeks he heard of brewers' intent to sell pints of full-strength beer for customers to drink on site. Burt asked Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office on Friday for an expedited interpretation of the new law.
"Some people are — that's the business model that they're understanding that they could do, and every minute that they're not open could make a big difference in success or failure," Burt said.
Marshall and other brewers are now waiting for the interpretation.
"Hopefully [they'll] rule something or give us interpretation on something that will be good for the people of Oklahoma as well as the small-business owners for an industry that is continuing to grow and generating a lot of jobs and tax revenue — good manufacturing jobs," Marshall said.
Marshall said brewers and the ABLE Commission have a good working relationship.
