Governor Christie Signs New Jersey Micro-Distillery Law


Artisan distillers in New Jersey can now offer tours, tastings and on-premise sales and can save more than $11,000 per year on their state operating licenses. This week, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law that creates a Craft Distillers License for spirits-makers producing less than 20,000 gallons per year.  The bill, which passed overwhelmingly in Trenton, completes a trifecta of laws passed in the last three years that modernize brewing and winemaking regulations that hadn’t been updated since they were written at the end of Prohibition.

So far, the only small distiller to operate in New Jersey is Jersey Artisan Distilling out of Fairfield but James Yoakum, who rents a garage space in downtown Camden and calls his business Cooper River Distillers, isn’t far behind. Neither will offer distillery tours this year, as both are working under the old license, which doesn’t permit such visits.

New Jersey Distilled [NJ.com]