Liquor license and permit holders are required to renew their respective licenses/permits annually. All applications were submitted to the Wyoming Liquor Division (“WLD”). Corrections, if applicable, were submitted to the WLD and accepted as complete, except for Gillette Brewing Company. As of February 11, 2019, Gillette Brewing Company’s production reports indicate production of a total 31.06 barrels. Nathan Hardy, manager of Gillette Brewery, indicated that the fifty (50) barrel minimum would be met and reported to the WLD on their March 15, 2019, production report. The WLD indicated by emails dated February 11, 2019 and February 14, 2019, that microbreweries have until the end of the licensing period, March 31, 2019, to meet the minimum requirement of the production of fifty (50) barrels to be considered a microbrewery.  See W.S. 12-1-101(a)(xix).  Below is the WLD’s suggestion regarding how to proceed for Gillette Brewing Company:

The Gillette Brewing Company application is not yet complete because the microbrewery production minimum of 50 barrels for the license term year has not been met yet. I discussed the situation with Nathan and Dawn Hardy and explained the requirement to them and Nathan indicated that with production from January and February of this year, they should meet the minimum requirements. We have not yet received the January reporting from them. 

We expect to receive production reports, and any applicable taxes, from microbreweries by the 15th of each month after the month of production. Because of the reporting requirements, we may not know if a microbrewery has actually met the minimum production requirements until after the particular license term has ended.

Your Council could determine that the application can be approved but the issuance of the renewed license would be contingent upon the microbrewery meeting the minimum production requirement by the end of the current license term: 3/31/2019.

It is important to understand that the minimum production requirement applies to the license term year, not the calendar year. This means that the timing of your renewal process and the public hearing may be a challenge for microbreweries because the minimum production may not have been met by the time of the public hearing. 

This is a timing dilemma that is also associated with the production demand that the microbrewery needs to meet based not only upon the minimum production requirements in statute, but the economics of the situation for the microbrewery. 

I discussed these issues with Nathan Hardy so he can consider other aspects of his microbrewery production demand to help ensure he meets the minimum each license year in the future.

The public hearing was published for two (2) consecutive weeks, February 1st and February 8th. No protests have been received.