There is a revolution in American beer making, and Portland could be its Lexington and Concord.
The city is currently home to 17 microbreweries, or one for every 4,000 residents. It was ranked America’s best city for beer drinkers by SmartAsset, an online technology magazine, and made it into the top 16 cities by Thrillist Food & Drink, another online publication.
The Maine Brew Bus, which offers tours of local breweries, is the top-rated local activity on the tourist information service Tripadvisor. Local brewers report hosting out-of-state customers who come to Maine just to taste craft beers when they are freshest, and who buy some to take home and share with friends.
Portland is lucky to be the home of a business sector that is growing and that puts it on the map for tourists. This wasn’t something that city officials planned, but now that it’s here, the city should at least have the good sense to get out of the way.
That’s not always so easy. Recently the city cracked down on Allagash Brewing, one of Portland’s best-known and celebrated beer companies, because it wanted to sell pretzels and nuts in the tasting room of its industrial park facility.
The area is not zoned for retail food sales, and eating something salty when quaffing something frothy is not considered an “ancillary use” for a brewery.
That may be the letter of the law, but it doesn’t make sense – not for the taxpaying business that uses its tasting room to build its reputation, and not for the local economy.
Zoning exists to keep development patterns reasonably predictable. It doesn’t do much good when the unpredictable happens, however. Twenty years ago, no one imagined that the city’s industrial park would be a place where people would want to hang out, but that’s exactly what happened.
With Allagash as its anchor, there is a cluster of four small breweries, attracted by the industrial park rents and facilities. These microbreweries also have small tasting rooms and sell limited amounts of their beer in bottles or cans to take home.
This attracts thousands of beer connoisseurs, who are willing to stand in line outside in all weather to sample the products.
It’s not a place where people go to get drunk. It’s more like a pilgrimage site for initiates who want to learn more about craft beer and who will go out and spread the word to their friends about a product that has little traditional marketing behind it.
Allagash and the others are not looking to become restaurants or expand their line of business. They are just trying to make things a little more pleasant for the enthusiasts who make their way down to the industrial park.
Zoning rules that were written before the beer revolution started should not become an impediment to the growth of craft brewing now.
No one is asking Portland’s city government to invent a new industry or create a new tourism draw. We just need it to not mess this one up.
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