Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's budget contains an overlooked provision that could greatly hurt the growth of the 60 craft breweries in Wisconsin. The provision would treat these 60 brewers the same as the mega-breweries in the state. They would be forced to use wholesale distributors to get their products to market. Forcing this upon small brewers hurts them as they now have to rely on a middle man to sell and market their beer. No longer could the breweries simply sell their beer directly to the restaurant down the street, rather they will need to involve a middle man to do this. The most concerning part of all of this is that the craft breweries had no say in this legislation but mega-brewer MillerCoors certainly did. This legislation does much to help MillerCoors preserve their current market share while it only serves to hinder the business of the smaller brewers in the state. It should be noted MillerCoors donated some $22,000 to Scott Walker's campaign (http://www.followthemoney.org/database/uniquecandidate.phtml?uc=20394).
