NEW JERSEY (PIX11) — A beer battle in New Jersey is pinning restaurants and craft breweries against each other.
At the beginning of the month, the state’s regulations on what microbreweries can do went back into effect. The establishments, for example, cannot sell coffee or soft drinks, can only offer patrons a bag of chips, and require customers to take a tour of the facility.
The microbreweries can’t even have food trucks on the premises, said Mike Kivowitz, who runs the New Jersey Craft Beer website.
“It’s bring your own food or (you) can order with menus and have it delivered,” he said.
There are approximately 130 craft breweries in the state compared to the thousands of restaurants, so it remains to be seen what economic threat the breweries are to the liquor-licensed eateries.
Some of those eateries are even buying beer from the microbreweries, Kivowitz said.
