City's Liquor Licensing Commission Set to Debate Rules for Breweries
Mayor Brodeur is hoping to allow breweries to operate in Melrose. The city's Liquor Licensing Commission decides next week if he'll get his wish.
Booze — from nips in package stores to beer carts at Mount Hood — has been a hot topic of conversation during Mayor Brodeur’s administration, and earlier this year, he began efforts to update the city’s zoning and administrative codes to allow breweries to operate in Melrose. When the plans were first announced, I suspected that it was not a speculative exercise but rather was being done in response to interest from some reputable local party. In subsequent public meetings, this has essentially been confirmed: there is indeed a group which is interested in opening a small brewery here next year, and they are reportedly targeting a lease in one of the larger commercial units at 360-368 Main Street, otherwise known as the MMTV building.
What’s Already Been Done?
This year marks what could be called the 50th anniversary of Melrose ending its status as a "dry" city. In 1973, the city's voters passed a ballot measure allowing the sale of alcoholic beverages in private clubs, such as the American Legion, which was then located on Crystal Street. Four years later, in 1977, the city's voters headed back to the polls to approve liquor sales at restaurants with seating capacities over 100 people. This measure was put forth (with Chamber of Commerce support) as a way to boost the prospects of establishing a flagship Main Street restaurant, as part of a larger revitalization effort that included the establishment of the downtown historic district. It would be tough to see this as anything but a success, and today the city has fourteen active restaurant/club liquor licenses and two retail licenses.
All businesses in Massachusetts that serve alcohol, breweries included, are strictly regulated by specific state and local rules (not to mention federal ATF rules). Melrose does not have a legacy prohibition on breweries; rather, it's simply never adopted the laws required to be able to license them for operation here. Earlier this summer, in response to Brodeur's request, the city council formally adopted MGL c138 s19c, dealing with the local licensing of breweries. Following that update, the Planning Board proposed -- and the city council approved -- breweries as a permitted business use within essentially all of the city's mixed-use and commercial districts. But before a brewery can officially apply to open here, there's one final hurdle: a review by the city's Liquor Licensing Commission (LLC), a three-member appointed body that will formally decide whether or not breweries are welcome in Melrose, and if so, what their rules for operation will be.
The LLC is the local regulatory authority that establishes rules for all alcohol sales and service within Melrose. Our existing liquor rules only cover restaurants (section 12) and package stores (section 15). Those regulations hold all licensees to certain standards, define permissible operating hours, etc. They also define service rules for restaurants, including most famously the rule that “alcoholic beverages may only be served with food ordered from the menu.” This food service rule was formally introduced in 2015, under the Dolan administration, in order to allow for smaller restaurants to serve alcohol while still effectively prohibiting bars from opening.
Brodeur is now asking the LLC to adopt brewery "pouring" rules, and he recently submitted a memo to them with his recommendations. While he stops short of suggesting they fully avoid any food service requirement for breweries, he comes close, recommending only that food service be “available to patrons” at all times. What does this mean? The memo spells out some ideas:
Operating a full-service kitchen
Arranging for food to be brought onto the premises by mobile food truck vendors
Contracting with nearby restaurants
Allowing patrons to have food delivered for consumption on the premises
Such other arrangement as the Liquor Commission deems appropriate
In 2020, an advisory committee convened by Mayor Brodeur recommended that he work with the LLC to fully revamp the city’s licensing rules, including eliminating the food service requirements entirely. Brodeur has opted not to pick this fight, and instead is targeting language for breweries alone; that’s probably an expedient choice at this point, although the actual language of the final rules is fully up to the LLC. The rules Brodeur proposes essentially waive food requirement for breweries, but they make clear that this is a sort of compromise, and at any rate they generally capture the way breweries actually handle food.
Will the LLC agree to this scheme? I have no idea. Public support will be important! Only one of its three commissioners, Kevin Cronin, is a recent appointee. At his confirmation hearing this fall, the city council asked him about breweries, and he responded that he was "open to" the idea and "not automatically a no.” The other two Commissioners, Joe Nevin and Mike Iudice, were re-appointed from prior administrations and haven’t weighed in publicly. As a matter of recent relevance, they did both approve the necessary one-day event permits for the "beer gardens" at the Beebe Estate this year, although Iudice made clear that he had many reservations about the idea. In some respects these events could be seen as a sort of brewery dry run; expensive beer was served, there was a lot of socializing, and food from La Qchara and Kindred Crepes was available to purchase. That both events ran without issue (and drew scores of families) certainly helps the brewery cause, although the hearings did suggest it could be an uphill battle for certain commissioners. Massachusetts has weird, conservative alcohol laws, and local licensing authorities tend to reflect this reality.
How to Show Your Support
The Liquor Licensing Commission will be holding a public hearing on these regulations at 6PM on Thursday, November 16th in-person at City Hall. I would not expect hybrid or remote access to be available, so if you want to show support, you'll have to either attend in person or send them an email telling them you support Mayor Brodeur's proposed rules. Do not assume this is a given, or that it will enjoy universal community support. There will be vocal opponents — just as there were in 2015 — and they will push the LLC to require breweries to operate full service kitchens, e.g. to force them to be restaurants. This would pretty much guarantee that Melrose will never see one.
I'm not much of a drinker, but to me, supporting Brodeur’s proposal is a no-brainer. The fearmongering over drunkards is just not a realistic sticking point. Each time the city has tweaked its alcohol rules (or, for that matter, its marijuana rules), its done so as a matter of competitive economic realities, and it’s always been the right decision. We need more small businesses in Melrose, and a brewery will be a fun one, a place where you can gather with your friends and family and neighbors for a little low-stress socializing. While residential real estate is and always will be the city’s dominant economic driving force, small businesses are completely indispensable in walkable communities like ours. Allowing breweries to operate -- and keeping them free from onerous or unique restrictions they would not face in other communities -- is a commonsense tweak to local rules that will improve the commercial marketability, and social livability, of the city. Let's make sure the Liquor Licensing Commission understands that Melrose supports this initiative.