Craft brewers converge on Wheeling to learn about hemp-based drinks
As state lawmakers once again consider proposals to regulate or ban hemp-based beverages, craft brewery owners and operators from across Illinois gathered Tuesday in Wheeling to discuss options they hope will allow them to keep making — and pouring — the intoxicating drinks.
The conclave — dubbed the inaugural Hemp Beverage Brew Day — was held at District Brew Yards, 700 N. Milwaukee Ave. It drew about 60 people from the brewing and hospitality industries. In addition to discussions about the business and legislation, they were treated to a brewing demonstration.
Among the attendees was Tim White, the marketing director for Chicago-based Half Acre Beer Co. Half Acre partners with a cannabis grower to produce marijuana products for dispensaries but hasn’t yet entered the hemp beverage market.
“It’s important to kind of see what the opportunities are,” White said. “We have to consider it.”
Advocates say hemp-based beverages, which typically contain low doses of intoxicating THC, can be a good source of revenue for small breweries.
These drinks were inadvertently legalized federally as part of the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed hemp to be grown to manufacture a variety of products. Drink makers took advantage of the law to distill hemp into a psychoactive, consumable concentrate.
Last year, though, Illinois lawmakers proposed legislation that would’ve prohibited such drinks in the state. The bill never made it out of the state Senate during the last session of the General Assembly, but it’s expected to return this year, said headline speaker Ray Stout, the executive director of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.
A different bill is more popular with Stout and his cohorts. It would establish a tax and assorted regulations for hemp beverage manufacturers, distributors and retailers, including rules for labeling, testing and advertising.
“We like this bill,” Stout said. Even so, he added, “there are plenty of opportunities for improvement.”
Several representatives of Itasca’s Church Street Brewing Co. attended the gathering. Church Street makes two hemp beverage products in four flavors, and the team wanted to learn more about the best ways to promote, sell and distribute the products, as well as the legislative proposals.
Owner Lisa Gregor noted the hemp drinks are selling well even as alcohol sales are declining. Intoxicating beverages that don’t have the negative effects of alcohol is a draw to some customers, she said.