BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York State Senator Chuck Schumer was in Western New York Monday afternoon calling on the government to act faster to prevent local breweries and distilleries on losing millions of dollars.
Breweries are at risk of losing the money due to the recent government shutdown.
Schumer says that new and existing product approval applications need to be expedited by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for approval, or else Labatt USA and other local breweries could lose millions.
“It’s no secret that the alcoholic beverage industry in Western New York is booming. However, like so many other industries across New York, this industry has been hurt by the recent government shutdown. With TTB shuttered for over a month during the unnecessary shutdown, a major backlog of new product applications from Western New York breweries, including 42 from Labatt USA and their parent company, is putting these companies in jeopardy of being unable to sell new products during the extremely profitably summer months,” said Senator Schumer in a press release.
“So today I’m calling on TTB to intervene and expeditiously clear the backlog of approvals, including for Labatt USA and other Western New York alcoholic beverage companies, as failure to do so could dry out these businesses and the regional economy. I’ll do everything I can to push through this log jam so Labatt’s and other Western New York businesses can get their new and innovative products to market.”
New York has more than 400 breweries, 400 wineries, 40 cideries and 100 distilleries