A thread regarding the state of Pennsylvania’s relationship with craft beer

In 2019 we first caught wind of Pennsylvania’s self appointed #PACraftBeerMonth in September

We thought the idea sounded great. But after digging deeper it all seemed like a sham https://twitter.com/breweriesinpa/status/1169583940509810688

There were no events planned. Just a month of Pennsylvania asking you to drink at breweries

Which wouldn’t be so bad if the state didn’t award themselves 130K to promote craft beer (hint, we could have done the same for like $100) https://twitter.com/breweriesinpa/status/1169583941571010562

And yet when we called out this hypocrisy we got a lot of push back privately from the brewing industry. Telling us we were talking “out of turn”

Our thoughts? Many of these breweries were also invited to a very fancy dinner at the Governors mansion to kick off the month. So to them they saw this as a great thing

(That fancy dinner being the only event the state held. I.E. the Brewers were tone deaf)

The state even went as far as to push macro beer during the month! Which again signaled their inability to understand the industry https://twitter.com/breweriesinpa/status/1176190151036493825

And then how did they finish the month? The state celebrated a full month of craft beer by taxing the very breweries they were there to celebrate.

You literally can’t make this shit up. https://twitter.com/breweriesinpa/status/1179009319553191938

So why do we bring it up now? Because a year later those same tone deaf breweries who told us to “stay in our lane” are being told by their state to effectively shut down

More and more mandates come out by the state against the small craft brewery during this pandemic. Hell, they even ditched #PACraftBeerMonth in 2020

And it’s important to note this thread is not political. Doesn’t matter who’s in power. Decisions made against the breweries have lacked common sense from the beginning

So no, we didn’t “speak out of turn” in 2019

We saw the writing on the wall way ahead of time. The state of Pennsylvania saw the cash cow that is known as craft beer and was looking to cash in

Now back to your regularly scheduled scrolling. Don’t mind us. We’ll continue to fight for what’s right. Not what’s profitable.