As shutdown barrels ahead, brewers suffer

They're not yet foaming mad, but the U.S. government shutdown has created a small "brewhaha" for local craft beer makers.

A federal agency little-known outside the industry wields power over much of what beer lovers see on package store shelves.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approval is required for new beer labels and certain beer formulas. The agency also permits new breweries.

Its shutdown has led to delays that have put a kink in beer makers' schedules.

"I always have labels and formulas in the pipeline, and if they're not approved, I can't print the label and sell the products," said Nicole duPont, manager at Nantucket's Cisco Brewers, maker of Whale's Tale Pale Ale and Sankaty Light Lager. "Weeks being added on to that process is really not beneficial."

Cisco has three batches of beer sitting in its "teeny, teeny" warehouse that it can't move. Sales manager Peter Burke said he left a message on U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office line, letting her know her constituents were affected by the shutdown.

"Time is money," he said. "If beer is being produced, we've already spent money on ingredients, labor, packaging, and for us to make our money back on that, we need to sell the beer."

For Ipswich's Mercury Brewing and Distribution Co., which operates Ipswich Ale Brewery, the shutdown is impacting its contract business, according to operations manager James Dorau. The company has four labels and two formulas pending before the tax and trade bureau.

"We're unable to submit any new ones or get any results back of the current ones," Dorau said.

And when the bureau does get back to work, there's likely to be a large backlog. "There's something like 2,000 breweries ... looking for their permits (to brew) throughout the country," Dorau said.

Harpoon Brewery is starting to look at its timeline to decide if and when it should risk printing certain unapproved labels given completion dates for new product batches, according to CEO Rich Doyle.

"It adds a lot of uncertainty to the system," he said. "We have lead time for a reason. We wouldn't lose beer, you just might not hit the market when you want."

Milton's Percival Beer Co., which launched this year and produces Dot Ale 1630, is working on Saigon Lager, a beer catering to the Vietnamese community.

"When we submitted the label design, it was literally on the same day that they shut down the government," said owner Filipe Oliveira, who wanted to be selling the beer by Thanksgiving. "I don't think that's going to happen. If anything, it's going to push it back to Jan. 1."

But the tax and trade bureau's website is still functioning for one purpose: to allow brewers to pay federal excise taxes.

"You can't have your taxes in late just because they're not answering your questions," duPont said.

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