Fwd: RE: Growler Initiative

Subject: RE: Growler Initiative Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:58:46 -0500 From: "Scott Neal" <SNeal(a)edenprairie.org> To: "Will Holway" <brew987(a)yahoo.com> I am receiving this same form e-mail from other interested parties. The legislation adopted by the State Legislature earlier this year requires the City Council to take a local action to enable the sale of growlers. Thus far, the City Council hasn't taken the issue up, so we haven't decided this issue either way, yet. The City Council will take up the issue for conversation on August 19, 2003. Scott H. Neal Your Friendly City Manager City of Eden Prairie 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 952.949.8300 sneal(a)edenprairie.org -----Original Message----- From: Will Holway [mailto:brew987@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 10:42 AM To: Scott Neal; GRP-AllCouncil; Don Uram Subject: Growler Initiative Mr Neal- I am one of the proprietors of a small business located in Eden Prairie, WindRiver Brewing, a homebrew supply store. I am also a member of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, and I appreciate good beer, specifically the fine brewpub beer at Hops restaurant in Eden Prairie. I was disappointed to learn that the city of Eden Prairie opted not to allow the sales of sealed, off-sale "growlers" of beer from brewpubs, following the passage of the state law that makes such sales possible. I'm sure that you have considered the pro's and con's of allowing such sales, just as our representatives in the state legislature did. I was informed that two issues in particular concerned you: 1) That people would act irresponsibly with growlers As I understand it, the growlers would be sealed at the point of sale with a shrink-wrap band. Breaking this shrink wrap while in a vehicle would, of course, violate open bottle laws, just as cracking a flip-top on a can of beer from a liquor store would. I don't believe that people who would never think of breaking the tab on a can of beer would for some reason break the shrink wrap on a growler. I don't believe this argument has merit. 2) That selling growlers would cause competition for city-owned liquor stores This may or may not be the case, but I believe that it is a conflict-of-interest for the city council to refuse to allow the sale of growlers for this reason, and a disservice to your community. In any case, you currently have ONE brewpub that could profit from your allowing the sale of growlers. It seems unlikely that the thousands of Bud, Miller, Busch, etc fans who purchase cases of beer for their events are for some reason going to switch to growlers instead. As a member of the Eden Prairie business community, I believe that it is good public policy to encourage new ways of generating revenue. Growlers may not be a signifcant revenue stream at the moment, but is a good way to introduce others to the quality product available at Hops. This, in turn, generates word of mouth referrals, and, in turn, will bring more people to Eden Prairie to come to Hops. Once in Eden Prairie thay may decide to shop at the Mall, see a movie etc. I sincerely hope the city council will reconsider allowing growlers to be distributed within Eden Prairie, as other cities in Minnesota such as Duluth, Saint Cloud, Minneapolis, Mankato and Saint Paul have already done. Thanks for your consideration Will Howay owner, WindRiver Brewing Inc __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com