NewsLocal News

Actions

Government shutdown is preventing local breweries from selling beer

Posted at 6:34 PM, Jan 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-17 19:36:49-05

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin spoke on the senate floor about how the government shutdown is impacting local breweries in Milwaukee.

Next to Baldwin was a picture of Russ Klisch president of Lakefront Brewery.

Klisch said the Brewery submitted a label to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in December for their upcoming malt liquor, My Turn Chuck. Without the label, the business can’t sell the My Turn Chuck beer outside of state lines.

“It usually takes about two weeks to get approval but it’s still there and also the fact the government is going to have a lot of labels to approve once they get back to work. That’s concerning also to us about how much of a backlog they will have,” said Klisch.

Lakefront Brewery distributes to 30 states across the nation. If the shutdown continues it could impact their upcoming season beers.

“It will have to go on for a couple of months for that to really affect us,”said Klisch.

Lakefront Brewery plans to start production of My Turn Chuck in a couple weeks. The hope is to have it for sale in Wisconsin by mid February.