Opinion: Distillery tasting rooms don’t compete with Colorado bars like mine: They make them better.

Years ago, when I took over a century-old shot-and-beer saloon in the rural reaches of Colorado’s snow-covered Yampa Valley, I told myself I was getting into the people business. Deep down I knew better: I was getting into the alcohol business, which meant I was actually getting into the rules business. 

After all, all sorts of rules govern businesses like mine. My joint is restricted in the hours we can sell alcohol, which can help keep our premises, our people and our roads safe. We can’t serve minors, and we’ll refuse service to just about anybody who won’t show their ID if asked, even if they’re clearly decades north of 21. We must offer food items for sale to anybody who wants them, and we can’t sell to folks who are visibly intoxicated. 

These and other common-sense rules emanate from the understanding that, while mountain-town taverns like mine cultivate community, there are inherent risks to drinking and serving alcohol. Good times are never worth bad consequences.

Over time, some of these rules change. Remember: Much of our regulatory superstructure was set up nearly a century ago in the wake of Prohibition’s repeal. Every now and then, either lawmakers or the voters decide to upset the apple cart. This is why, for example, you can now buy beer and wine in convenience stores and grocery stores — and why small mom-and-pop liquor stores and larger retailers are locked in near-constant political battles. 

Some rule changes have made it difficult for Colorado small businesses to thrive. Take craft distilling. While Colorado is home to more than 100 craft distilleries, the sixth most of any state, and while craft spirits are increasingly featured in glitzy marketing materials for Colorado tourism, a lot of distillers will tell you they have a hard time getting their product out there. Who can they approach to stock their wares?

They can opt to work with a wholesaler to place their products on shelves and liquor stores across the state, but even the world’s best distributor rep is juggling a lot of competing interests — especially now that grocery stores sell beer and wine.

Colorado distillers can alternatively opt to apply for and carry both a manufacturer’s license and a wholesaler’s license to truck around the state convincing bars, restaurants and liquor stores to carry their products. That isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t often work: If you’re a traveling salesman who pops by before we’re open or while I’m out of town, you’re out the cost of gas to Oak Creek. 

In my experience, the best way the distillers can convince me to carry something is when my customers ask for it by name. But how are my customers supposed to find what they like, especially with brand new products? There is a chicken-and-egg conundrum at the heart of the system here: Customers will only buy what they’ve tried, and there’s nowhere to try it until enough of them buy it. 

This is why many distillers have invested considerable time to build fun and vibrant tasting rooms to attract new consumers, including a great one — Mythology Distillery — in Steamboat Springs, just down the Yampa River from my bar. Here’s the structural problem with tasting rooms: Archaic rules prevent distilleries from opening that many of them, which makes it tough to cultivate a statewide customer base. 

Luckily, Senate Bill 132 goes a long way in resolving this tension. The bill, which is scheduled to be heard March 11 by the Business, Labor, & Technology committee and carried by lawmakers from both parties, would allow distilleries to open multiple tasting rooms across the state. If it were to become law, these pioneering new brands could set up outposts stretching from Steamboat Springs to Salida, a boon to our tourism industry as Colorado increasingly positions itself as a craft spirits destination. 

The measure would also allow these tasting rooms to sell beer and wine — which means those of us who don’t enjoy spirits could still tip back a Coors Banquet beer with our craft whiskey-loving friends. 

These are the sorts of reforms to our Prohibition-era liquor laws I know most Coloradans can get behind. 

I’ve heard from some fellow bar and restaurant owners who say this law change creates unfair competition to our businesses. To them I would say: What business do you think we’re in?

Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve always thought that what we sell is magic — by serving the beer, wine and spirits over which our neighbors build community. The distillers, meanwhile, sell spirits. Let’s give them every opportunity to do their job better so that our customers have every reason to keep coming back to us. I’ll drink to that. 

Skyler McKinley, of Oak Creek, is a fourth-generation Coloradan and the owner of the Oak Creek Tavern in Routt County.

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