HOPPIN-FROG-BORIS.JPG
One of Hoppin' Frog's many beers. The Akron brewer, like all craft brewers, needs federal approval on its labels.
(Bill Kennedy, The Plain Dealer)
The federal government shutdown has affected many areas in our lives, from public parks to accounting offices. Now it's getting even more personal: Craft beer is at risk.
The Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau must approve craft brewers' labels.
Wednesday, the bureau's website welcomed visitors with this statement: "Due to the government shutdown, information on this website is available, but may not be up to date."
Being up to date is crucial, and required, for brewers such as Fred Karm of Akron.
Karm's Hoppin' Frog Brewery brews a variety of creatively named beers of many styles. Before any can go from fermentation to bottle to consumer, at least two levels of government - federal and state - have a say.
Labels must be checked to make sure they are safe, not offensive and are not a copyright infringement - meaning a beer cannot have the exact name as a another brewer's. Then the brewer must send the federal approval to the state - along with a $50 fee, Karm said - for its OK. Alcohol-by-volume limits vary by state; Ohio's maximum is 12 percent.
The immediate effect is a physical one: "We're going to bottle it without labels; the labeler isn't made for that," he said. "It will certainly make more work for our labeler [to do labels on full bottles later]. The labeler is going to be stressed out."
Karm says the effect is more "disappointing" than financial, since he already has dozens of beers available via retail in stores and in his tasting room. Last year, the brewer had 28 styles; this year Hoppin' Frog probably will have around 24, he said.
"I wanted my biggest fans to try this special barrel-aged" brew, Karm said. "We might have to go to December or January."
Karm isn't alone on feeling the effects of the shutdown. Ohio has more than 100 breweries.