LA Brewers vs. LA Supervisors

Welcome to the new prohibition games. Exactly a century ago, the United States was subjected to the so-called “noble (ignoble is more like it) experiment” of Prohibition, the nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. It was the 18th Amendment to our Constitution.

Now, just over 100 years after Prohibition became the law of the land, as California is struggling to contain the spread of the Cornavirus during a worldwide pandemic, the County of Los Angeles has enacted another kind of ban: prohibiting all its production breweries with taprooms from serving their wares to patrons — even in their outdoor areas when partnered with a third-party food vendor, thereby requiring customers to order food in order to be served alcohol beverages.

In case you haven’t been following the situation closely, here is some background: This “Phase 2” outdoor service was previously allowed for all LA County breweries on June 1 (and up to two weeks earlier in the state’s other 57 counties), after some 80 days of “Phase 1,” which was enacted in mid-March when most businesses were shut down due to the pandemic. Fortunately, California brewery taprooms were considered “essential businesses” and did not have to cease operations (breweries in some US states were not so lucky), but that initial phase only allowed beer-to-go and delivery options. Sadly, LA County breweries are now back to “Phase 1,” and have been since June 29, when this rollback was immediately mandated.

Adding insult — actually three insults — to injury:

1) After less than three weeks of “Phase 2” outdoor service, on June 19, the county moved into “Phase 3,” in which bars and other businesses were allowed to reopen, and production brewery taprooms no longer had to partner with food vendors in order to serve alcohol beverages to patrons outside. Apparently, it was too much too soon (state virus cases were spiking, especially in LA County), as it lasted only 10 days statewide.

2) While the rest of California’s counties had their regulations for breweries understandably rolled back to “Phase 2,” the LA County Board of Supervisors were much stricter, kicking its brewery taprooms all the way back to “Phase 1.”

3) Incongruously, LA County brewpubs (that, by definition, have onsite kitchens) were treated like restaurants and allowed to regress only to “Phase 2.” Brewpubs represent roughly one-third of the 93 breweries in the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild. These times are tough for them too, but at least they have on-premise business on which to rely. Still, the county’s brewpubs support lifting the ban on their fellow breweries.

It’s been more than 60 days (and counting) since the Supes’ two-steps-back for brewery taprooms, as I’m writing this in late August. And, after receiving support from the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA), state organizations and small-business associations, the LABG’s outreach to the County Supervisors, and even the Health Department, have so far gone unheeded.

Call to Action

So, beginning Monday, August 24, the guild launched a weeklong social media campaign, asking breweries and local beer fans alike to urge a response through e-mails, tweets and Insta-bombardments to the quintet of Supes, one each business day. To read more about the campaign, and to find out how you can help, visit: https://labrewersguild.org/savelabrewers/

Also, on the 26th, Guild executive director Franny Lopez did an Instagram interview with San Diego-based beer writer Beth Demmon about the campaign. In addition, a social media post to county leaders from LABG past president Laurie Porter, co-owner of Smog City Brewing in Torrance, was quoted in an August 25 article about the guild’s lobbying efforts by NBC LA’s City News Service.

“We have done our due diligence to create a safe environment for our customers and our staff and continue to evolve with the ever-changing policies set forth to protect our community,” she said in the post. “We know we can meet the standards and regulations set upon us… [and] are asking you to step forward and align with our community-driven businesses — ones that our local municipalities rely heavily upon to drive tourism, community and quality of life.”

Elsewhere in the Instagram post, Porter cuts to the chase: “We are asking for a chance to survive this pandemic intact, a chance to save the jobs we have created and the taxes we pay.”

While at press time it seems that the guild still hasn’t received a response from the county, the uncredited CNS reporter apparently did: “…[C]ounty officials told City News Service [that] breweries are still considered ‘high-risk’ businesses for possible spread of COVID-19, particularly among younger residents, and thus cannot be permitted to re-open.”

CNS also spoke to Janice Hahn, one of the five Supes, who represents the South Bay (home to many of LA’s craft breweries, including Smog City), and was an early proponent of re-opening businesses back in May. “I am worried about the toll these closures have taken on our local breweries,” she told the reporter, at least expressing a modicum of concern. “While it doesn’t seem fair, these are the tough decisions our public health experts are making to protect people and slow the spread of this virus.”

Nearly six months into this pandemic, and the stop-start-stop guidelines for alcohol-focused businesses, no one has to talk to the LA brewers about “tough decisions.”

The Health Department also released a statement to the news service, claiming, “…[W]e are still seeing concerning levels of community spread and high case counts… Because of that, we do not recommend businesses…where COVID-19 can spread easily to be re-opened.”

Mustering a semblance of empathy, the statement offers, “We understand this is a hardship for local business owners and we want to get to a place where it is safe to continue on our recovery journey and re-open our local businesses. The task in front of us is to be able to thread the needle so that we continue with our recovery journey while protecting the health and well-being of our residents, our workforce and our community.”

Whether LA County succeeds in navigating the eye of that needle or winds up sewing shut any chance of survival for those breweries currently hanging on by a thread remains to be seen.

The entire City News Service article can be found at https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/los-angeles-craft-breweries-coronavirus-reopen/2418596/

Meet the New Rules (Same As the Old Rules)

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new Coronavirus re-opening rules for businesses, which were announced August 28 and takes effect August 31, don’t seem to offer any imminent hope for LA breweries either. Under these guidelines, all Southern California counties (sans San Diego) are placed in “Tier 1, Widespread Transmission” (more than seven new COVID cases per 100,000 people per day and a Coronavirus test positivity rate of more than 8%). “Tier 1” leaves restaurants exactly where they are now: outdoor service only, with the continued exception of LA County production brewery taprooms, of course; same as it seemingly ever was.

So it’s still in the hands of the Supes. And the Health Department. And as anyone who has ever opened a brewery in the county, and especially the city of LA in the last decade or so can attest, the process can be a Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucratic red tape, inconsistent regulations and ever-changing requirements. Unless your brewery is in the cities of Pasadena or Long Beach (which have their own less-draconian health departments), you’ve got to engage with, and abide by, the LA County Hell — I mean, Health — Department.

So on one hand, what did LA County breweries expect in the midst of a health crisis? But on the other, after more than 90 job-creating and tax-paying breweries having opened successfully in the county over the past 10 years, wouldn’t one think the Supes and bureaucrats would finally get a clue? Don’t they know that sanitation and cleanliness are inherent in the brewing process, as well as in taproom service, be it inside or out?

Refer to the LABG website for more reasons why this modern-day Prohibition that discriminates against businesses by geography and alcohol-license type not only “doesn’t seem fair” (as Ms. Hahn suggests), it clearly is unfair.

Supervisors, it’s time to stop ignoring the pleas of the LA brewers and start a dialogue with them to find a safe and sane solution that saves our breweries as well as lives.

Tomm Carroll, being in the “vulnerable” age group for COVID-19, is currently content buying beer from local breweries to drink at home in LA County, but looks forward to the day when their taprooms re-open — outside as well as in. Reach him at beerscribe@earthlink.net.