Community Corner

Beer Lovers Beware: Shutdown and Your Brew

Without a license MillerCoors may have no choice.

In a matter of days and thanks to the government shutdown, the Silver Bullet may not be allowed to make any more beer runs to Minnetonka’s bars, restaurants and liquor stores.  

“Tastes Great” and “Less Filling” Doesn’t Matter Now

Doug Neville, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety which over sees state liquor regulation, told the Star Tribune that MillerCoors, the company that brews and distributes products like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Blue Moon, failed to properly renew their brand label registration with the state before the shutdown began on July 1.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It would be hundreds of cases,” Nathan Strong, owner of Minnetonka’s told Patch Wednesday.

Dan Keegan, who owns , estimated that MillerCoors products account for almost 30 percent of his store’s beer inventory.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Brenda Visnovec, the director of operations, MillerCoors representatives are now setting up times to come collect their products from local store shelves in the event stores have no space to store their inventory. 

However none of the three Minnetonka liquor stores that Patch talked to Wednesday had yet received official confirmation that MillerCoors is facing this battle over registration with state officials or is making plans to yank their product off local shelves. 

“We’ve reached out to our [MillerCoors] rep but we haven’t heard anything,”  owner John Farrell said. “We’ve heard absolutely nothing."

And because in the state of Minnesota, beer is paid for upon delivery to a liquor store or a bar, some local store owners, including Farrell, insist that the 39 brands of MillerCoors beverages which have already made it local stores, can be sold.

Lee Gilbertson, a manager at , pledged that no one would pull his MillerCoors products.

"We've already paid for it, so I wouldn't let them,” he said. “That would sort of be like going after customers who have purchased it and trying to take it back from them."

Visnovec disagreed, saying that a brand license is needed to sell any product, in stock or not. And since MillerCoors doesn't have theirs, she said, all the products need to be yanked. Restaurants and bars, however, can still sell their stock assuming their liquor license is up to date. 

But even if that is true, it's not clear who would actually enforce it and cite stores that failed to comply.

Cassie Wells at  said that MillerCoors actually made a delivery to her store Wednesday afternoon, but added that the delivery people didn't know much about the situation.

"I'm just going with the flow and I really don't have any idea as to what is going to be the final outcome of all this," she said.

No News, Good News?

No official guidance to local shop and bar owners by either government officials or MillerCoors may indicate the parties involved hope to solve the licensing problem—before 'Miller Time' comes to a halt. 

“Right now we are exploring all options that are available to us," MillerCoors spokesman Julian Green said in the Star Tribune report. "We are currently in discussions and hoping that we can get a resolution with the state, with the agency that enforces the sale ... of alcohol."

Local Businesses Hit?

Local liquor store owners, Strong, Keegan and Farrell all agreed that an absence of the MillerCoors products could affect business.

“Sure it’d be a loss of revenue for us,” Farrell said.

But they also agreed that the pain of those lost sales would be slight because all stores in the state, not just theirs, would be unable to sell MillerCoors products.

“It will be a level playing field here,” Strong predicted. “It will hurt people closer to our Minnesota borders more.”

“People will just buy something else,” Farrell agreed.

“We’ll just fill the shelves with something else," Keegan said. "We’re not going to leave them empty."

Regardless if state officials force MillerCoors products to be yanked off shelves, the current stock of MillerCoors inventory might dry up quickly. That's because many locals are hitting stores to stock up on their favorite MillerCoors beverages before drawdown time.

“People are going to drink beer one way or another,” Strong said.

 The brands affected:

Blue Moon Pale Moon Belgian Style Pale Ale, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Coors Light 3.2, Foster’s Lager Beer, Foster’s Premium Ale, Grolsch Amber Ale, Grolsch Blonde Lager, Grolsch Light Lager, Grolsch Premium Lager, Hamm’s, Hamm’s Genuine Draft Style, Hamm’s Special Light, Henry Weinhard’s Dark, Henry Weinhard’s Hefeweizen, Henry Weinhard’s Pale Ale, Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve, Icehouse Beer, Keystone Light Beer 3.2, Killians Irish Red 3.2, MGD Light 64, Mickey’s Ice Ale, Mickey’s Malt Liquor, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life 12/16 oz can, Miller High Life Ice, Miller High Life Light 12 oz can, Miller Lite 3.2%, Miller Lite Beer, Milwaukee’s Best #1 , Milwaukee’s Best Ice, Milwaukee’s Best Light #1 3.2, Molson Canadian, Molson Canadian Light, Molson Golden, Molson Ice, Molson XXX, Olde English 800 Malt Liquor, Sparks Light


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here