A bill that left a key House committee on the last day of the formal legislative session could change the way craft brewers sell their beer in Massachusetts.



Under current state law, brewers that select a distributor to ship their product to Massachusetts bars and stores cannot fire that distributor without "good cause."



The new law would add leeway for privately owned breweries that produce less than 100,000 barrels, or 3.1 million gallons, of beer in a year, according to the bill's text.

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This is a redraft of a bill filed by Rep. John Mahoney, a Worcester Democrat, that would've allowed only breweries that make less than 930,000 gallons per year and are owner-operated and managed, to pull out deals with distributors. This lower cap would've left popular brewers like Trillium, Night Shift, and Cisco out of the mix.

Tuesday's bill expands on that. But Dan Cence, who lobbies for the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, told the State House News Service that he believes the "bill does not go nearly far enough."



Few breweries operate without outside management, Censce told the news service, and therefore would be left out of the bill's purview.

The bill cleared the House Committee on Way and Means Tuesday morning and could come to House floor for a vote before the end of the formal session. No similar legislation has been filed in the Senate.