After a long stretch of uncertainty, New Jersey leaders appear poised to make some tweaks to the state’s decades-old and often-debated liquor license laws, while easing controversial restrictions on craft breweries, under a compromise Gov. Phil Murphy and top state lawmakers negotiated to end a standoff, NJ Advance Media has learned.
While the bill (S4265) would narrowly increase the availability of liquor licenses in the state — including adding more at shopping malls — it falls far short of the massive reform Murphy has sought for months to the Garden State’s strict, Prohibition-era rules determining how many restaurants are allowed to sell alcohol.