RE: Growlers in Eden Prairie

Just received this from Scott Neal , city manager of Eden Prairie. He says the growler issue is still alive in Eden Prairie. Write him and encourage the Eden Prairie City Council to approve this measure! Here's email addresses, according to Mike Behrendt... sneal(a)edenprairie.org - City Manager - Scott Neal allcouncil(a)edenprairie.org - entire city council duram(a)edenprairie.org - he's the Liquor Director - Don Uram - Al ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 08/11/2003 12:29 PM ----- "Scott Neal" <SNeal@edenprair To: allan.boyce(a)usbank.com ie.org> cc: Subject: RE: Growlers in Eden Prairie 08/11/2003 12:08 PM Mr. Boyce, The City Council in Eden Prairie has not adopted an ordinance that prohibits growlers. The Council has also not adopted the necessary ordinance to enable the sale of growlers either. The Council has not discussed or decided this issue yet. The Council is scheduled to discuss this issue on August 19th, which is their next regularly scheduled meeting. I can't comment on the reliability of your source, but I can attest that the information above is true. Concerning my comments about "from e-mail", I have received the exact same e-mail request about growlers from at least four different people over the weekend. The exact same language verbatim. People are welcome to do this, of course, but it is not very sincere or convincing. I am still curious though. What is St. Louis Park doing with this issue? Do you know? We are gathering information about other communities. Thanks, 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: allan.boyce(a)usbank.com [mailto:allan.boyce@usbank.com] Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 12:00 PM To: Scott Neal Subject: RE: Growlers in Eden Prairie Mr Neal- I was informed by a resident of Eden Prairie, and a member of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, that the City Council had already decided on this issue. He told me that he has had several conversations with staff at the Eden Prairie City Hall and the Eden Prairie police department, and that there was a city ordinance passed preventing growler sales, for the reasons I mentioned in my email. He is generally a reliable sort, and I trusted his research as true. A representative of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild told me the same news. Are you telling me that there is no such ordinance, and that you are merely waiting for a request from Hops to consider growler sales before acting on it? I mentioned my home city just to tell you I'm not an Eden Prairie voter, and as such have no electoral method of voicing my displeasure regarding the disposition of growler sales in Eden Prairie. Will Holway, owner of Wind River Brewing, informed me that the Eden Prairie city council will discuss this matter on August 19, 2003. I urge you to approve the sales of growlers in Eden Prairie. Thank you for your reply. I look forward to further discussion and potential resolution. - Al Boyce PS - Neither this, or my previous email, is a form letter, as you implied in your letter to Mr. Holway. If others with similar opinions to mine chose to use portions of my original email to voice their concerns, I am flattered, and I hope you will take it to mean that they desire the sales of growlers in Eden Prairie as well. "Scott Neal" <SNeal@edenprair To: allan.boyce(a)usbank.com ie.org> cc: Subject: RE: Growlers in Eden Prairie 08/11/2003 10:54 AM Mr. Boyce, Thank you for your input. What is your home city doing with this issue. I am disappointed that you will no longer shop here. I believe you a bit premature with your economic boycott of Eden Prairie. I don't believe that we've had an official request from Hops yet to sell growlers. It's probably coming, but we haven't slammed the door on this yet. Discussion can lead to compromise. Boycott prevents discussion and resolution. 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: allan.boyce(a)usbank.com [mailto:allan.boyce@usbank.com] Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 10:19 AM To: Scott Neal; GRP-AllCouncil; Don Uram Cc: mba(a)thebarn.com Subject: Growlers in Eden Prairie Mr Neal- I am a resident of St. Louis Park, MN, and I frequently shop, do business and dine in Eden Prairie. I am also a home brewer and 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. You may think that since I am not a resident of Eden Prairie that my opinion doesn't count. But the Twin Cities metropolitan area is a very small place, and my dollars do count. For the time being, I will be patronizing businesses in other cities that have passed ordinances allowing off-sale growlers, and I am encouraging my friends and members of my Association to do the same. I hope that Eden Prairie will soon rethink their position on this, and we can begin to enjoy fine Eden Prairie-brewed craft beers in the comfort of our homes. Thanks for your consideration Al Boyce member, Minnesota Home Brewers Association