Farmers markets would welcome brewers: Seasonal markets in reach for craft breweries

At the Grafton Farmers Market recently, I watched from the shade of a tree as people left a sunbaked Town Common toting a bottle of wine or cider among bags of sustainably-farmed vegetables and artisan breads.

More arrivals stopped to listen to Ragged Hill Cider Co. co-founder Steve Garwood, sporting a tan safari hat, explain the tasting notes on several of his West Brookfield ciders. At the other end of the crowded common, Abby Skaff talked through a couple of red wines she produces from Broken Creek Vineyard in Shrewsbury, before taking a short break to stroll through the market.

The scene put into relief how strange it is that craft breweries’ licenses do not allow them to join wineries and cideries in putting their brews up for sale at the seasonal marketplaces. Small brewers have as much to gain and place as much pride in their craft as vintners and cidermakers.

For nearly a decade, the Massachusetts Brewers Guild has petitioned for a change in law allowing craft brewers access to the markets, viewed as important points of sale and opportunities to strengthen community bonds.

This year represents one of the best chances for the MBG to score an “enormous win” for the industry, said executive director Katie Stinchon. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Marlborough, tacked on an amendment to the state’s multibillion-dollar economic development bill creating a special license, issued by a city or town, permitting breweries holding a farmer-brewer license or pub brewery license to sell products at farmers markets.

“Shelf space and draft lines are getting harder and harder to come by,” Stinchon said. “It’s also a great marketing opportunity for our brewers to introduce themselves their community.”

Craft breweries got about this far last year, only to have a similar amendment inexplicably removed from the economic development bill in the Conference Committee before it reached the governor’s desk.

The hope is the issue — if there ever were one — holding up the previous amendment has been handled, and this version can glide through the House and Senate debates unscathed and onto Governor Maura Healey’s desk before the July 31 legislative session ends.

Then, upon approval from their towns or cities, we could see breweries attend farmers markets later in the summer or this fall.

To make their case this year, the MBG stressed that in recent years brewers have focused on using more locally-grown ingredients, such as fruit, grain or hops. And the guild reached out to farmers market organizers, most of whom saying they’d welcome brewers and relish the opportunity to have them among their other vendors.

‘It doesn’t make sense’

I knew instantly whether Grafton Farmers Market volunteer Jen Rowe supported bringing in brewers as vendors: She wore proudly a black T-shirt bearing the logo for Holden’s Seven Saws Brewing Co.

“I think it would be a draw,” Rowe said after helping a late-arrival, Traveling Cap Mushroom Co., secure a spot on the grass. “If I knew a market had a craft brewery, I would seek it out — especially if it were a brewery I’d never been to before.”

“Why does the law at the state level single out one group not the other?” she added.

Grafton’s farmers market, open every Wednesday from 2-6 p.m., has a clear bias I learned, as its manager, Jake Morris, works in the Upton taproom of Rushford & Sons Brewhouse. Morris emailed me while on vacation to say the cideries and wineries have been a “big draw” for the market; in addition to breweries, he’d love to bring in local distilleries, such as Millbury’s Spicy Water Distillery.

No such bias exists at the Westborough Farmers Market. Still, manager Kristin Bradley is just as flummoxed as to why a winery can attend her market but a brewery cannot.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said during one of the recent markets, held every Thursday at the Bay State Commons.

Since Bradley took over as manager in January, Westborough’s farmers market has grown from an average of six vendors to 30 this season. The popularity of breweries, Bradley said, could help the market grow even more.

“We have so many small breweries around us,” she said. “It would add another group of people who might not normally come to the market. The people who come for the beer will also look at everything else. Maybe they’ll buy a pair of Alpaca socks or some candy from Sugar Shack.”

If you would like to see craft beer sold at your local farmers market, you can show your support by signing the Massachusetts Brewers Guild’s petition: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=19401 .

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Farmers markets would welcome brewers: Seasonal markets in reach for craft breweries