ALBANY – After the passing of the Farm Brewery Bill by both the state Senate and Assembly earlier this month, new opportunities are opened for area breweries, along with local hops and barley farmers who will profit from increased demand for their crops.

The bill steadily gained endorsements from the New York Farm Bureau, as well as Governor Andrew Cuomo and members of the state legislature since its introduction in March. It allows New York state breweries to apply for a “Farm Brewery” licence, which would open opportunities similar to those made available to the New York wine industry when similar legislation passed in the 1970s.

The Farm Brewery licence permits breweries to sell New York-labeled wines and other state-labeled beverages at their retail outlets. Likewise, wineries will be permitted to sell NYS labelled beer for off-premises consumption, which include farmers markets. A license would also allow breweries to open a restaurant, conference center, inn, bed and breakfast or hotel on the brewery site, and sell beer-making equipment and supplies, food that compliments beer or wine, souvenirs and other products similarly sold by wineries statewide.

To obtain a farm brewery licence, beers must be crafted primarily from locally grown farm products, making it a New York labeled beer. At least 20 percent of the hops and 40 percent of all other ingredients must be grown or produced in New York. By 2018, at least 60 percent of the hops and 75 percent of all other ingredients must come from New York, and by 2023, no less than 90 percent of hops and 90 percent of other ingredients must be from this state.

In March, Cuomo also proposed legislation to ease the burden of a costly tax filing requirement. With the passing of the bill, breweries and wineries are no long mandated to report sales made to restaurants and bars, since the costs of this annual reporting is too costly for small breweries.