{"id":12747,"date":"2013-11-22T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=12747"},"modified":"2021-08-31T08:59:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T13:59:13","slug":"bill-olson-exit-interview-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/bill-olson-exit-interview-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exit Interview With ABDI President Bill Olson: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
We pick up right where we left off in Part 1<\/a> of our exclusive sit-down with outgoing ABDI President Bill Olson.<\/p>\n In this installment, Olson claims he was mislead about Revolution Brewing’s plans for its production brewery and brewpub during the SB 754 talks, he also offers some insight into the HB 2606 negations, which forced Anheuser-Busch to sell its ownership interest in Illinois distributor City Beverage and the possibility of a “craft beer bubble,” in Illinois.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Guys Drinking Beer<\/strong>: You mentioned the 7,500 barrels that \u201cthey,\u201d told you that was the amount they need to self-distribute. When you say \u201cthey\u201d who gave you \u2013 if you can recall — that 7,500 barrel number?<\/em><\/p>\n Bill Olson<\/strong>: I don\u2019t want to put anybody on the spot, but I will, I think it was Chuck [Sturhenberg owner of Big Muddy Brewing] that said it and we also talked with Rolling Meadows \u2013 which was just really being created and maybe the newest craft brewer at the time. One of our distributors had some conversations with Argus up in Chicago. When it was presented to them, will this solve the problem, they all said, \u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n Now remember here, the [Illinois] Craft Brewers Guild, the issue was that if no legislation passed nobody could self-distribute. Judge Dow\u2019s ruling would have gone into effect and there would be no argument about how much you want to have. No. No craft brewer, no big brewer, no brewer could self-distribute period. So we really went in with the idea of making a limited accommodation to help get small, start-up breweries going and get their niche in the marketplace and then go back to the [three-tier] system that has worked in the state since the end of prohibition.<\/p>\n And one of the interesting points on that is that they can still remain a craft brewer up to 15,000 barrels but they could only self-distribute 7,500. That wasn\u2019t an accident. The idea of that is, when they start reaching that 7,500, they start thinking about how am I going to get more distribution and transition under their mode, their business model, knowing when they went in that they were going to have to do that and start developing a relationship that went back to the traditional way of having a three-tier system that worked for the manufacturer, the distributor, the retailer and the consumer. Their [Revolution\u2019s] argument was, \u201cwe need time to transition from our brewpub to our production brewery\u201d and gave us every indication that when they made that transition they were going to get rid of the brewpub.<\/strong><\/span> GDB<\/strong>: So, looking at the bill that passed this past session that raised the production cap to 30,000 barrels and kept the self-distribution cap at 7,500: when you look back at when SB 754 was passed up to present day a lot has changed. You\u2019re looking, now, at brewpubs who are looking at opening more than on location. You have a brewpub like Revolution who opened a production brewery. Do you feel that the legislation and the rules that have been set up have kept up with the growth of Illinois’ brewers and the way they have grown?<\/em><\/p>\n Olson<\/strong>: There\u2019s a great example of no good deed goes unpunished. We were approached during the final negotiations on SB 754, it was brought to our attention that one brewpub in Chicago, Revolution Brewing, was in the process of creating a production brewery. Well, under the current law at that point in time, the Commission already said you cannot hold a brewpub license and a craft brewer\u2019s license \u2013 or any brewer\u2019s license. You can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n Their [Revolution\u2019s] argument was, \u201cwe need time to transition from our brewpub to our production brewery\u201d and gave us every indication that when they made that transition they were going to get rid of the brewpub. So we put in there that a craft brewer, which then was defined as the 15,000 barrels, could continue to hold a license for a brewpub. We probably were remiss in not saying that there is a timeframe. We probably should have put in there, they can only hold it for two years, or a year, or something. But we were trying to make an accommodation to help this one brewpub up there.<\/p>\n Once it got on the books we found out they didn\u2019t want to get rid of their brewpub. They had no intention of stopping being in two licensed levels of the three-tier system. Then we get into the next year where they are reaching their production cap of 15,000 barrels. The key there being, that is the definition of a craft brewer and only a craft brewer can continue to own a brewpub.<\/p>\n
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\nOnce it got on the books we found out they didn\u2019t want to get rid of their brewpub. They had no intention of stopping being in two licensed levels of the three-tier system.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n