Hear Buzz Bomb co-owner, Josh Flanders, speak on the upcoming legislation being advocated by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild (ICBG).

and check out a summary from WSIU,

The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild is advocating for introduced new legislation aimed at helping breweries in the state expand and grow.

Senate Bill 2193 would create a brewer shippers license – allowing brewers to ship directly to consumers without going through a distributor.

This is modeled after the winery shipper’s license passed into law in 2007.

ICBG President Ray Stout says the pandemic demonstrated a need to have an online presence.

“What this does is support the craft beer industry and keeps a lot of these smaller breweries in business to the betterment of the entire industry.”

In addition, Senate Bill 2216 is the Beer Omnibus Bill, clarifying some engagement programs. That includes legalizing reward programs, craft beer donations to nonprofits, as well as removing water reporting requirements and more.

Stout says formally recognizing “mug club” and other reward programs will create rules for brewers to follow set by the legislature.

“If the craft beer industry is going to continue to be an employer of 18,000 Illinois residents and get full time paying jobs, we need to move forward with legislation like this to help shore up some uncertainty in the future.”