City council says yes to more micro-breweries
Posted May 2, 2016 11:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Locally-brewed beer could soon be coming to your neighbourhood.
On Monday night, Calgary City Council approved a recommendation to change a land use definition for breweries, distilleries and wineries.
“We always allowed micro-breweries that sold in their own restaurant, but larger breweries that wanted to sell retail had to only sell in industrial areas,” explains Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “And the idea here is that a micro-brewery had to sell in its own restaurant and retail in a larger section of areas.”
A report presented to council said the change would help boost tourism to the city. Nenshi says the city moved quickly after the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission made its own changes province-wide.
“The city had a meeting with micro-brewery stakeholders in February, and here we are debating the bylaw change in May. Given the requirement to advertise for a certain number of weeks, that’s as fast as you could possibly do it,” he says.
ALGC previously required beer manufacturers to produce 500,000 litres per year, but changed the regulations to make room for smaller operations.
