Photo: Flickr/Plinkk

Radio Boston explores this issue on today’s show. This update from producer and occasional PRK contributor Anna Pinkert:

On Monday, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission sent out a new advisory that beer brewers who operate under a “farmer-brewer” license will need to grow 50 percent of their raw material themselves, or buy it from local farms.

Up until Monday’s advisory, there had been no specific farming requirement attached to the farmer-brewer license. Rob Martin, president of the Massachusetts Brewers Association and owner of Ipswich Ale Brewery, says his business has good relationships with local farmers. He buys local pumpkins and blueberries for his seasonal beers, and gives his spent grain to a cattle farmer for free. However, he says that it would be impossible to find enough local grain and hops to produce his beer.

Grains used to make beer need to be malted first, and there is currently only one malting facility in Massachusetts. Andrea Stanley, who owns Valley Malt in Hadley with her husband, says that her business is running at capacity and the new “50 percent rule” would not be sustainable.

The regulation change came as a shock to many in the craft beer industry. Jeremy Goldberg, of Cape Ann Brewing in Gloucester, called the decision an “arbitrary rules change.” He, like many, use the license as a way to produce, pour and distribute beer on site. Without the farmer-brewer license, brewers would need to acquire separate licenses from the state to manufacture and distribute their own beer.

State Treasurer Steven Grossman will meet with brewers on Monday, and hopes to reach a compromise that will benefit small businesses and farmers alike.

We speak with Martin and Grossman on Radio Boston today.  Find the segment here.