West Virginia high school students can submit entries in an annual state-sponsored contest on the dangers of drinking and driving and underage alcohol consumption.
The West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration is accepting essay or video entries for the NO School Spirits contest through Dec. 22.
The winning high school will receive $5,000 and will be invited to help create a formal public service announcement to be distributed statewide during the 2018 prom and graduation season.
Prizes of $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place also will be given. The prizes must be used for a school-sanctioned event or to buy school equipment.
The contest is funded with grants from State Farm, the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association and the Governors Highway Safety Program.
Longtime Alcohol Beverage Control Administration employee Fred Wooton has been selected to be the agency’s new commissioner.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Wooton’s appointment and said he offers experience on several levels with the agency.
Justice’s office said in a news release that Wooton has been with the ABCA for more than 25 years in roles including inspector, enforcement agent and enforcement supervisor. He has also instructed officers and cadets at the West Virginia State Police Academy on alcohol beverage control laws, rules and regulations since 2004 and has served on the ABCA Policies and Procedures Executive Committee.
He previously worked in the lodging, food and beverage industry in southern West Virginia.
The commissioner of the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration says he’ll retire later this month after 28 years with the state.
Commissioner Ronald Moats joined the agency in 1989 and has been deputy commissioner and director of operations.
He was a senior project manager for then-Gov. Joe Manchin from 2005 to 2010 and an assistant to the director of the Lottery Commission from 2010 to 2011.
According to state officials, under Moats’ guidance the alcohol control agency modernized with an inventory system and a new licensing software system.
He began a program aimed at underage drinking with a drunken driving simulation that has reached more than 35,000 high school students.
The state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration has received a record 78 entries from high school students for a contest discussing the dangers of drinking and driving and underage alcohol consumption.
Sixteen high schools submitted essays or videos for the contest. Winners will be announced in late January. Prizes include $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place. Prize money must be used for school-sanctioned events or equipment.
The agency says in a news release that students from the winning school will help develop a 60-second public service announcement which will air statewide during this year’s prom and graduation seasons.
The NO School Spirits contest is funded with grants from State Farm, the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association and the Governors Highway Safety Program.
An Eastern Panhandle distillery decided to close its doors this week because of uncertainty about regulations the owners say are making their business unprofitable.
Distilleries must sell their liquor to the state and buy it back at a 28 percent markup under a provision of the liquor law called bailment. Bloomery Sweetshine Distillery in Jefferson County says that markup has made doing business unsustainable. Bloomery co-owner and founder Linda Losey says the bailment fee caused her to close her popular tasting room.
“So we had to make the decision to close down the tasting room operations because we, if we’re racking this money up, we won’t ever be able to pay it back.”
Losey said small distilleries like hers that sell directly to the public have been misclassified under the law and should be exempt from the bailment requirement. She says the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration, the ABCA, promised a decision about the classification by January fifth of this year. The decision hasn’t been made yet. The distillery began a social media campaign to urge the ABCA to rule in its favor.
ABCA spokesman Gig Robinson says the distillery’s situation is a priority, but it will take time to sort out since any decision will affect the ten other distilleries in the state.
Bloomery isn’t the only distillery waiting for a ruling. Smooth Ambler, near Lewisburg, doesn’t rely as much on revenue from its tasting room, but bailment does affect its profit margin. Randi Smith, Smooth Ambler’s business manager, summed it up this way:
“If there has been a misclassification of distilleries in the state of West Virginia, and indeed we are not required to use the bailment system in order to sell retail product out of our own retail tasting rooms, you know, then we just want a ruling, we just want a clarification on that.”
Bloomery’s distillery is in West Virginia Senator John Unger’s district. He echoed ABCA’s assessment that Bloomery’s business model is unique and that any solution to its situation will affect other businesses in the state. However, he stressed that the state can’t afford to lose small businesses and must encourage their growth.
He said he has urged the ABCA to make a decision.
“They gave me commitment that Friday they would give an answer. Now, again, the answer that they give, it will be what they interpret the law. I’m hoping it’s favorable in the sense that all parties would be okay with whatever that interpretation is.”
If the decision isn’t agreeable, Unger said legislation may be required to address the problem.
As West Virginia’s craft beer industry continues to grow, brewers are turning to the state legislature for help in expanding further. Members of the West Virginia Craft Brewers Guild presented some ideas at the state Capitol Tuesday.
Blackwater Brewing Co. owner and brewer Lincoln Wilkins told the Joint Committee on Economic Development that his industry is growing, but current state law is keeping it from becoming a bigger economic force.
Craft brewers have made their wish list and hope to help draft a bill that would bring about some of these changes. Lawmakers could consider the issue when they return full time in January.
So, here’s five things West Virginia craft brewers want to see changed at the statehouse:
1. A Streamlined Licensing Process:
As a member of the state craft brewers guild, Wilkins says the biggest problem is licensing. There’s a $1,500 resident brewers license just to make the beer. There’s an additional $1,000 license to operate brewpub on site.
At any other bar, that’s only a $150 license. Both the resident brewer and brewpub license require additional state bonds.
Wilkins says it’s much easier in states like Ohio.
“Really, these states have streamlined this process and either pulled back or structured their license process in such a way that is not such a burdensome financial amount on the breweries that are starting up,” said Wilkins.
Although the Guild believes breweries should have just one required license, West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration (ABCA) General Counsel AnoopBhasin said integrating the licenses may be difficult, if not impossible.
“I think it would be problematic. There’s two different functions and two different tiers. We try to maintain a separation of those tiers and those functions,” said Bhasin.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Lincoln Wilkins of Blackwater Brewing Co. outlines the West Virginia Craft Brewers Guild’s desires to the Joint Committee on Economic Development. The guild argues that current laws keep the industry from expanding the way it potentially could.
2. Incentivize Start-Ups and Growth:
The West Virginia Craft Brewers Guild believes licensing fees should be on a sliding scale to incentivize startups. The guild argues that production costs on smaller scales are considerably higher than those of larger operations and the flat rate of $1,500 discourages potential businesses from getting started.
Instead, they argue that, as the volume of a brewer’s output increases (while production costs go down), brewers would be able to afford higher licensing fees.
3. Expanded Flexibility of Operations, Similar to Wineries and Distilleries:
Brewers also want more flexibility in their operations, hoping to match the ability of wineries and distilleries to have tastings, provide limited sampling, and sell more of their product directly to the public to be consumed off site.
The Guild argues allowing these provisions will benefit the tourism industry.
4. A Streamlined Labeling Process and Alcohol By Volume (ABV) Analysis:
The West Virginia ABCA requires a certified laboratory analysis of alcohol by volume and sales approval of products. Mountain State Brewing Co. owner and guild president Brian Arnett explained that process happens out of state and it can take up to 40 days.
“So, you have beer sitting there waiting for the analysis to come back. Then, it goes to the state and you have to wait for the state approval to come back as well. So, sometimes, you brew your beer and you’re waiting 60 days,” Arnett said.
The ABCA doesn’t confirm the alcohol by volume analysis procedures. The Guild argues that brewers’ analysis procedures are precise enough and a sworn affidavit should be sufficient.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Mike Vance pours a beer from Morgantown Brewing Company’s stand at the Brew Skies Festival in Canaan Valley on July 25, 2014.
5. More Flexible Distribution:
Brewers are also concerned about laws that lock them into long-term agreements with distributors. They contend current distribution franchise laws protect distributors from large-scale, out-of-state beer companies yet hurt small, in-state brewers by not allowing brewers legal recourse to end agreements.
Phillip Reale of the West Virginia Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association argued against breaking down the three-tier distribution system of brewers, wholesalers, and retailers.
“I don’t know that anybody would disagree with the notion that perhaps some of the fees maybe are higher than they should be or that you could try to streamline the process as much as you could,” said Reale. “But, in doing that, you have to be really careful that you don’t disrupt the control.”
Bhasin of the ABCA points out that some changes have been made for brewers to better self-distribute but, federal case law dealing with interstate commerce puts limits states’ ability to make certain changes.
