Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey refused to allow breweries to deliver their brews to people's houses, even though taprooms were forced to close on account of stay-at-home orders. Now, state regulators are primed to deliver the coup de grâce in their anti-beer campaign.
On July 1, the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) finally implemented its long-delayed, long-dreaded "special ruling" on craft breweries. First proposed in 2018, the rules caused an immediate firestorm in the local brewing community and were temporarily withdrawn. Re-introduced in 2019, the rules were scheduled to go into effect in 2020 but were suspended when COVID-19 hit.
