New state regulations say New Jersey breweries will be limited to hosting 25 events a year in their space, including yoga events, trivia nights and paint-and-sips that are advertised by the brewery.

The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control released a special ruling clarifying and expanding on the restrictions placed on breweries in September 2018. The original ruling was suspended in October after an outcry by brewers and owners, who said restricting events would hurt their marketing efforts.

The reason for the regulations, said James Graziano, acting director of the ABC, was to balance the interests of restaurant and bar owners, who must purchase more expensive licenses to sell food, with the interests of brewery owners.

"The division must balance the concerns of the growing limited brewery sector comprised of 100 licensees against the issues and concerns facing the bars and restaurants that collectively hold approximately 6,000 retail consumption licenses in the state," Graziano said in the document.

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The 25 on-site events are defined by ones that the brewery advertises, even through social media. On-site events also include anything with amplified music, such as a band or DJ, and anything around a live-televised sporting event. The latter two examples count as an on-site event regardless of whether they're advertised by the brewery. If any other type of event, like a yoga or trivia night, is advertised only by posters in the brewery, it will not count toward the 25 "on-premises special events."

Under the ruling, people who host private events at the brewery can bring outside beer and wine, as long as the brewery consents and the beverages are removed from the premises at the end of the party. Distilled spirits cannot be brought in, and the brewery is limited to hosting 52 private parties per calendar year.

The document released Tuesday also says breweries can apply for a social affair permit, which will allow them to attend 12 off-site events per year at venues where breweries were previously not allowed to take part.

This is a great thing for breweries, according to Brian Kulbacki of Departed Soles in Jersey City and Steve Bauer of Ghost Hawk Brewing Co. in Clifton.

If a gathering has a festival permit, which is true of most events where breweries showcase their beer, it will not count toward the 12 events per year a brewery is allowed to attend.

Instead, breweries will now be able to sell their beer directly to consumers through the Limited Brewery Off-Premises Event Permit. These can be obtained to attend 12 off-site gatherings considered civic or community events, including sports games and holiday celebrations.

With a Limited Brewery Off-Premises Event Permit, breweries will be able to sell beer by the glass or open container, as well as offer 4-ounce samples and sell certain unchilled bottles or cans of its beer.

"This is a good thing, and something that will really help us promote our brand," Bauer said.

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The ruling maintained that breweries cannot provide food to their customers. Any collaboration with a vendor, including food trucks, will be prohibited. Visitors to breweries will, however, be allowed to order food deliveries and bring in take-out. Breweries will be allowed to stock menus from other restaurants as long as they don't have a partnership with the restaurant (something they couldn't do before).

Another change: A mandatory tour that brewery visitors used to have to take every time they come back to a brewery has become more lax. If breweries keep a log of who took the tour, patrons will have to go on the tour only once a year instead of every time they visit.

The limit on live, amplified music events could be felt in Asbury Park’s original music community.

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The Asbury Park Brewery has been regularly hosting concerts by up-and-coming punk bands since May 2017.

"Asbury Park has been an incubator for young talent for decades, and the brewery has provided a place for that to continue," Asbury Park Brewery founder Jeff Plate said in September.

Graziano wrote in the document that the current regulations are a result of the rally against the September ruling.

"Almost immediately, the division learned that a few limited breweries believed that they were not adequately represented in the stakeholder discussions,” he said.

He went on to say that the division performed “informal fact finding” by meeting with stakeholders such as the Brewers Guild of New Jersey and the New Jersey Brewers Association to adjust the regulations.

Eric Orlando, executive director of the Brewers Guild of New Jersey, urged people to keep in mind that the guild is still working with the ABC to make adjustments, and that the current regulations exist on a trial basis.

"The ABC is not going to be heavy-handed in different aspects of the ruling," he said. "They anticipate that this plan will end up with a more formal lawmaking process."

The parts of the special ruling that still need work, Orlando said, are some of the specifications around event promotion.

Sean Galie is co-owner of Lower Forge Brewery in Medford. He called the revised ruling an improvement, but said: “I’m still concerned that some of the language is still in there.

“This time, the ABC had a better process in place, and I do feel that we (brewery owners) had more input into it, but I’m still disappointed,’’ Galie continued. “The way they look at the on-premise special events compared to how other breweries in other states promote themselves — we’re just still not where we should be.’’

A big area of concern is the language that regulates food, he said.

“Medford has food truck nights, and we fund the Destination Medford campaign," Galie said. "We’ve built a good relationship with the town. It’s a town event, it’s not our event, but we give them money to promote it and it happens on our doorstep. It’s a close partnership, and we don’t want to jeopardize that relationship for a second.

“Overall, this is better than last fall, but there are definitely still some thorny issues here. I feel like the process was much better,’’ he continued. “I give the new ABC director credit: There was a definite improvement in communication. We knew back in March we were going to be disappointed with some of the on-premise (events) language.’’

Daniel DeMiglio, owner of the mega-popular restaurant Callahan's in Norwood, is upset by the news. He had linked up with Hackensack Brewing Company owner Mike Jones a year and a half ago, before Hackensack even opened, about a potential partnership.

They recently launched a series in which once a month the Callahan's food truck would come to Hackensack Brewing Company to offer hot dogs with toppings made with Hackensack's beers.

DeMiglio sees this decision as a lose-lose for both restaurants and breweries.

"Hackensack Brewing Company is behind a place that sells tombstones, not next to a restaurant," DeMiglio said. "Our collaboration increased awareness for them and for us."

The New Jersey Brewers Association released a statement applauding the ABC for its revised ruling.

The statement agreed with the creation of off-premises permits and for the rights of breweries to give out menus of local restaurants to customers. However, the association condemned the limit on special and private events, saying it was not "appropriate or supported by the law."

“I think that the special ruling is most definitely a step forward in terms of what was proposed and ultimately scrapped a few months back," said Ed Gleehill, co-owner of Lunacy Brewing Co. in Haddon Heights. "Ultimately I think it’s a legislative issue that is and will continue to be revised for the betterment of our industry. Time will tell, right?’’