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Podcasts Take Two
DC budget battle turns off the tap on craft brewers
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Oct 11, 2013
Listen • 4:04
DC budget battle turns off the tap on craft brewers
A small federal agency which approves the labels on beer bottles and kegs is shut down, and that means dozens of craft breweries are in limbo, unable to legally distribute their product.
Craft brewers are reaching markets far from their home breweries. In a Washington, D.C., store, beers from California, Colorado, Louisiana, Vermont, and elsewhere are for sale.
The federal government shutdown could leave America’s craft brewers with a serious hangover. Stores will still offer plenty of suds. But the shutdown has closed an obscure agency that quietly approves new breweries, recipes and labels, which could create huge delays throughout the rapidly growing craft industry, whose customers expect a constant supply of inventive and seasonal beers.
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Bill Chappell/ NPR
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A small federal agency which approves the labels on beer bottles and kegs is shut down, and that means dozens of craft breweries are in limbo, unable to legally distribute their product.

While the politics behind the government shutdown are playing out in Washington, DC, the effects are very real for all kinds of folks across Southern California.

Not only are federal workers being affected by furloughs, but beer brewers are also feeling the pinch. A small federal agency which approves the labels on beer bottles and kegs is shut down, and that means dozens of craft breweries are in limbo, unable to legally distribute their product.

To talk more about this we've called Byron Fisher, president of the Alosta Brewery in Covina, which is hoping to open its doors for the first time later this month.