The Press Herald reports that Portland zoning on Industrial Way currently blocks breweries from selling pretzels and other packaged snacks with their beer.
A city zoning administrator has denied the Allagash Brewing Co.’s request to sell prepackaged snacks – such as chips, popcorn and trail mix – to beer tasters at the company’s brewery on Industrial Way, an area that has become a hotbed for beer enthusiasts who flock to its cluster of breweries to sample and buy fresh beer and ale. An Allagash representative will appear Thursday before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to try to have the ruling overturned.
“We’re not trying to expand our business,” said Jill Perry, Allagash’s retail manager. “We’re just trying to be responsible purveyors of alcohol.”
A lot of breweries like Rising Tide and SOME in York just give them away. My understanding is they’re sent free from Cape Cod chips or Snyders or whatever as a way for those businesses to let people try their products (they do taste way better when you’re buzzed!), and as a beer drinker you get a free snack to take the edge off. Everybody wins. I guess Allagash’s beer samples are free though, so you can’t ask for too much.
The city’s infinite wisdom strikes again