D.C. Council loosens regulations on alcohol containers and brewery collaboration

Breweries, pub crawls, and farmers markets will have an easier time serving alcohol now, thanks to a bill passed by the D.C. Council.

The D.C. Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to pass an amendment to a bill regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages to make it easier for patrons to take home craft beer, and lessen restrictions that hampered collaboration between breweries.

“The [Amendment] allows for a holder of a class B license to sell, for off-premises consumption, beer brewed in collaboration with another brewery,” said Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, a Democrat representing Ward 5, who introduced the bill for a vote on Tuesday.

This means a brewery will now be able to sell alcohol it produced at a different location — even outside The District — as long it collaborated with the manufacturer and “provided that the label or the container for the alcoholic beverage bears the names of both distilleries,” according to the bill.

The new amendment allows licensed establishments to sell sealable containers of their craft brews that patrons can take home and reuse.

The larger of the jars are called growlers and can hold about 4 pints each, and the smaller are crowlers, which hold about 2 pints.

The bill is part of a larger amendment to D.C. alcohol laws which also benefits soccer and baseball fans in the District looking for late-night game-viewing time at the bar next month.

The council voted in May to extend service hours for bars during the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the World Cup.

Now bars can pay for a $100 permit to open for 24/7 between July 14 and July 18 and serve alcohol until 4 a.m. — two hours after the normal city curfew.

D.C. bars have until July 3 to apply for an extended service permit for the All-Star
Game.

Metro did not immediately respond to comment when asked whether the transit agency would provide late-night Metrorail service during that time.