'Restrictive' Rules For Morristown Brewery Addressed By Council

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The Morristown council recently adopted a resolution that "strongly opposes" state restrictions on craft breweries in a non-binding vote.

Glenbrook Brewery, the town's sole brewery, vigorously advocated for the legislation.

In July, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control passed legislation imposing special conditions on craft brewery licenses, such as limiting breweries to 25 on-site open public activities and 52 private parties per year, as well as 12 off-premise events, such as town parades or celebrations.

Microbreweries, such as Glenbrook are also prohibited from selling food on-site or collaborating with local food vendors under the new rules. Menus from local restaurants may be provided by microbreweries, but they cannot have a monopoly on them.

Council President Stefan Armington believes the ruling is for the purpose of limiting competition with established restaurants rather than for health and safety reasons.

As a result, the Council passed a non-binding resolution opposing the legislature, which was approved by five council members with two members abstaining.

Read related: New State Brewery Restrictions Opposed By Morristown Officials

Glenbrook Breweries co-owner Darren Cregan made brief remarks emphasizing the brewery's involvement in charitable causes throughout the community, including an upcoming Rotary benefit to combat polio.

"When I approached you guys about the new state laws, you said how you were limited to events and you can't show live TV and you can't have amplified music and you have to apply to the state to have any type of event including the rotary event you are having that is raising money toward polio eradication," Council member Nathan Umbriac said.

Councilman Robert Iannaccone, who abstained from the vote, argued that the resolution was too broad and that, while some of the new conditions appeared stringent, breweries did require special conditions to distinguish them from restaurants.

Iannaccone also questioned whether easing up on brewery restrictions would cause traffic or parking issues, both of which the town zoning board considers when hearing applications for breweries.

"When this was approved it was approved as a brewery, it was not approved as a restaurant and it wasn't approved as a bar… Would they have made a different decision based upon the fact that this was something with higher traffic," Iannaccone said. "I'm going to abstain because I think it's somewhat of an uncomfortable precedent we are setting."

Toshiba Foster, David Silva, and Nathan Umbriac, along with Armington and Mayer, voted in favor. Tawanna Cotten was the other abstention.

According to National Brewers Association data cited in the resolution, 141 craft breweries in New Jersey contributed nearly $2 billion to the state economy last year, creating more than 11,000 jobs with annual incomes exceeding $55,000.