If you can believe it, with the sole exception of the chain brewery-restaurant Gordon Biersch, there is not a single brewery/brewpub in WA State that participates in the AHA Pub Discount program!
That really sucks - especially in a state with so many great breweries and so many homebrewers.
I wonder if the AHA has put any effort into educating WA breweries/brewpubs about the program(?) Would they be interested in paying a part-time person to perform this ‘sales’ type of task? I’m willing… It’s just so sad to me that there are NONE in WA!
Discounts are OK. It’s free that isn’t. For example, a pub I go to a lot by my work has a punch card. Buy 9 beers and the 10th one is .50 cents (Can’t be free but can be discounted).
Also, as I said, Gordon Biersch does it here in WA…
Same here in NH. Basically it is the Portmouth Brewery ( good discount - use it a lot ). Moonlight Meadery just joined in with a discount in their retail shop.
I think with the limited resources, the AHA kind of counts on the members to talk to their local breweries to get them interested in the program. I believe Kathryn Porter is in charge of this ( or at least she was a couple years ago when I asked her at a rally ).
Right on both counts. We try to get breweries interested, but it’s really the members in the location that convince them to get on board. And IIRC, it is some legal issue that keeps WA breweries from participating. I’ll try to find out if that’s correct.
Unless I’m missing something in my state laws, I don’t think so. Like I said, Gordon Biersch does participate in the program in WA state, but they are the ONLY ones.
Maybe Kate can give more information on what the law says.
The .pdf says this for WA.
WASHINGTON
Washington state alcohol regulations currently
prohibit the Brewers Association from
promoting Washington businesses that
participate in the Pub Discount Program and
in most cases prohibit Washington breweries
from participating in the program.
We’ve been working with Gary on this issue for a while, as in several years. Since before we passed SB5060 and got the homebrew law changed. We might have an angle that can get it worked out for us, but it’s been a real challenge.
Hey everyone - there are laws in WA that prevent us from promoting breweries or beer bars that want to participate in the Pub Discount Program.
It is my understanding that the WA Liquor Control Board decided that any WA company with a Retail License can’t offer discounts to one group of people, like AHA members, if that discount isn’t available to everyone.
Here’s the explanation we use:
Washington state alcohol regulations currently prohibit the Brewers Association from promoting Washington businesses that participate in the Pub Discount Program and in most cases prohibit Washington breweries from participating in the program.
We have hoped to establish something that would allow breweries without a Retail License to offer discounts and have not been able to get confirmation from the Washing Liquor Control Board to make that a reality.
Further, I’d like to apologize for the listing that claims Gordon Biersch - Seattle is a participant in the program. We’ve just recently had a database transition and I’m not quite show how that listing happened. It should come down tomorrow when our overnight routine refreshes the list.
Which homebrew shop is offering 10% off? edit: Nevermind, I see on the AHA directory that Brew & Grow is offering that. Unfortunately, they’re not really near me.
