SL-001 TTB and the Government Shutdown

Welcome to the very first Sightlines episode of the Good Beer Hunting podcast. These episodes are where we dig in to a timely topic with experts from around the country, working to make you and us smarter about what’s going on in the beer industry right now. This week, brewers around the country are dealing with the ramifications of the government shutdown, which means that key agencies like the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau—often referred to as the TTB—are entirely unresponsive, and that means that almost nothing new can legally come to market until those agencies are re-opened and the backlog is cleared. The TTB is critical for brewers who need label and formation approvals for their beers in order to package and sell them. So what’s going to happen in an industry that survives almost exclusively off new releases? To catch us up to speed, we’re going to talk to Jared Treanor, Brand Manager of Brewery Ommegang in New York, and Ashley Brandt, a Chicago attorney who works with breweries of all sizes. (He’s also, incidentally, GBH’s attorney.) Thanks for listening. Sightlines is the news and analysis section of Good Beer Hunting, and it’s focused the evolution of the beer industry. We’re excited to turn it into an ongoing podcast series! Good Beer Hunting is supported in part by our underwriters, New Belgium Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Guinness, which is based in Dublin, and newly in Baltimore County, Maryland. And as always, we’re supported by the Fervent few, a community of subscribers. You can support GBH by joining.