Bill would allow educational taprooms
KATHERYN HOUGHTON
Daily Inter Lake
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Montana college and university brewing science programs to sell their craft on campus as part of the curriculum.
House Bill 462 would allow community colleges and universities to operate a brewery and a taproom open to customers up to 20 hours a week. Students could also market their craft beer to retailers.
Some opponents of the bill have said they’re uncomfortable with the idea of taphouses on Montana campuses. Proponents have pointed to the fact that taphouse customers would be limited to 12 ounces of beer a day.
Flathead Valley Community College President Jane Karas said the bill’s language shapes the license to ensure it’s for students to learn how to juggle the science and business of brewing — not to open a bar or create a competitive business.
“It would give our students the experience, when they go into their jobs, they’ve learned every aspect of running a brewery,” Karas said.
She said FVCC’s brewing program is currently operating off a temporary license that allows students to taste and test a small portion of their product before pouring the rest down the drain.
The bill, proposed by Rep. Frank Garner, R-Kalispell, passed out of the House Business and Labor Committee with a 69 to 27 vote. It will go before the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Development Committee for a hearing Wednesday, March 22 at 8 a.m.
Karas said if the bill passes, it’s not guaranteed FVCC will open a taphouse. But she said she wants educational brewery programs to have the option.
A craft brewery opens every 16 hours in the United States, according to the Craft Brewers Association. Montana ranks fourth in the nation for breweries per capita.
According to the Montana Brewers Association, the state’s breweries support more than 500 jobs and have an economic impact of more than $60 million annually.
Flathead Valley Community College launched Montana’s first college brewing program in 2015. Montana State University Billings followed in 2016 with a Certificate in Craft Brewing and Fermentation.
FVCC brewing program director Joe Byers said a taphouse would let locals experience what Montana’s next generation of brewers are learning.
“An integral part to the Montana small brewers model is you operate a taproom,” Byers said. “You make your beer on site and you sell it on site. You’re talking to those customers on a daily basis asking, ‘what can we change with this, how does it compare with other beers of this style?’”
He said the brewing students would have to maintain inventory, track how much of the product is going through the tap lines and document how fast each item is moving.
Monday morning, the first cohort of FVCC’s Brewing Science and Brewing Operations students worked in the college’s new brew house, which students began using last fall. The space and equipment gives FVCC brewing classes the ability to produce 11,000 gallons of beer per year.
Tom Hlavacek monitored water temperatures as he began mashing grains for a batch of an original Scottish Ale he had attempted earlier in the course. He said this time, he wanted it with more hop.
Soon after Hlavacek started the school’s program, he said he snagged an internship with Great Northern. That job turned into a part-time position, he said.
“I like living around here and I want to stay,” Hlavacek, 32, said as he talked about why he joined FVCC’s brew program. “I’m a ski bum mostly, but thought I could be a ski bum who makes beer.”
He said so far, the combination is working.
Byers said three out of the four students in the brewers first graduating class have part-time jobs at local breweries.
“Adding a taphouse wouldn’t change the program so that we’re drifting our focus from learning and experimentation and dialing in products to meeting production demands,” Byers said.
But he said it would help create qualified brewers to meet the industry’s growing need.
Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.