Comments on: HB616 & How I Came To Forgive Big Sky Brewing

By: LaNette

LaNette — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:24:27 +0000

Thanks Jeff. I agree I’d like to see BSB work more closely with the MBA and breweries. I’ll try not to focus on the communication line between MTA and BSB. I hope BSB has heard from consumers how important all breweries are to our state and start working with everyone to better the system.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:08:08 +0000

LaNette – In fact, I myself asked that very question. The response I got from Big Sky was that they had the same amount of time to review the bill as we did, approximately five days. Big Sky employs quite a few people and could easily be considered the most agile and capable of our breweries, so I don’t think it’s absurd to believe they could have done the analysis quickly and reasonably accurately. Clearly, however, there was a communication line between the MTA and BSB, but I’m not reading too much into it at this point, based on their word.

I also pointed out the shortcoming of communication with their fellow brewers. I raised the point, given these miscalculations, that a conference call should have been called amongst all the breweries and the MBA, prior to the committee’s vote, to discuss this openly. In an hour and a half, they were able to change our minds…I think there could have been a much different outcome if everyone was truly on the same page and spoke with a unified voice.

By: LaNette

LaNette — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:46:12 +0000

Jeff, I am wondering if you asked Big Sky one question. Was this their bill? Did they work with MTA to draft this bill? The reason why I ask is because they had all these stats and all this information that no one else had time to compile because the language of the bill came out so late. How were they able to do get all this information so quickly?

Also, a back room deal sounds great and it sounds nice of them, but again why wasn’t Big Sky talking with the other brewers about their ability to make a back room deal with MTA? For me this still goes back to the necessity for collaboration. Big Sky has a lot of political clout and it’d be nice if they used it to work with the local breweries.