FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS CAFE The Guilded Age BY RYAN PACHMAYER With roughly 400 brewery and allied trade members, the Colorado Brewers Guild rep- resents and supports Colorado craft breweries by advocating for positive legislation, shaping local rules and providing an insurance co-op for members. It raises money by running popular festivals such as Collaboration Fest and the Colorado Brewers Rendezvous and organizing Colorado Pint Day. It also raises money through membership dues and its annual conference held in November. Shawnee Adelson is the executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild and has been with the organization for seven years. She was originally hired as a membership coordinator, but has moved up the ranks over time, from membership director to deputy director and, fi nally, to her current role as executive direc- tor, where she’s been for the past three years. We sat down with Adelson to discuss what the Guild has been doing for local breweries recently, what it plans to do in the future, the state of Colorado craft beer and more. Westword: What has the Guild done dur- ing COVID for local breweries? Shawnee Adelson: At the beginning of CO- VID, one of our main focuses was to support Colorado breweries and just make sure that they could survive. When restaurants were reopening, we worked heavily to include brew- eries in that. We worked hard educating [public servants] on how breweries were similar to restaurants and how they were unique, and that they can be safe spaces with the right rules and regulations. We also advocated for a sales tax credit, which has continued into its third year, and allowing a set number of months each year when breweries can retain their state sales tax. We also helped pass legislation to permit 20 to-go and delivery temporarily to allow breweries to get beer into consumers’ hands when they weren’t allowed to be open. We also worked a lot on temporary outdoor modifi cations, to allow people to expand in the streets, sidewalks and parking lots more easily to allow people to spread out. We’ve continued to advocate to allow people to uti- lize those spaces where appropriate, because people enjoy sitting outside in Colorado. In 2021 we passed a bill that allows brew- eries to pull festival permits. Previously, this was only open to wineries. We opened it up to breweries, distilleries, restaurants and bars. They can participate in up to nine festival per- mits a year now. It allows breweries to partner with distilleries, wineries and restaurants if they want, and allows them to do anything Brewers Guild director Shawnee Adelson. their current license allows, including tast- ings, sell for on-site and sell for to-go. How challenging is it to pass this type of legislation? It’s not easy. It took three to four years to pass the festival permits bill. We started that before the pandemic. It takes a lot of stakeholding with other people in the alcohol and beverage industry, as well as the liquor enforcement division and legislators. What is the Guild currently working on? The [Colorado] Department of Revenue, which runs the liquor enforcement division, has convened a task force that is reviewing the entire liquor code with a goal of modern- izing and harmonizing Colorado’s liquor code and providing a recommendation to the state legislature on changes they would recommend. And that report is due at the end of December 2023. We’ll be spending a lot of time keeping an eye on that. Internally, we’re working on a strategic plan for the next three to fi ve years so that we can continue to show value to our members and adapt to the changing marketplace. With GABF coming back for the fi rst time since the pandemic, where do you see the cur- rent state of Colorado craft beer? Craft breweries in Colorado took a big hit during the pandemic, with reduced sales and production in 2020. In 2020 we saw the most breweries close since prohibition, about 33 from March 2020 to March 2021. We’re starting to see that stabilize. Breweries are still closing, but breweries were closing prior to the pandemic, too. Numbers are not as low as they were, and we’re seeing breweries open up, which is great. Per the Brewers Association’s economic impact study, craft breweries’ economic impact increased about 20 percent between 2020 and 2021. There’s defi nitely recovery here in Colo- rado. We have over 450 breweries in Colorado, and we like to call ourselves the state of craft beer for numerous reasons. I think craft beer is always going to be a part of the culture in Colorado, and it’s not going away. Read the full Q&A at westword.com/ restaurants. Email [email protected]. OCTOBER 6-12, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com BREWTOGRAPHY PROJECT
