Berlin council members recently asked for more cooperation between Burley Oak Brewing Co. and the town’s chamber of commerce before taking no action on the business’s request to serve alcohol at four events.
Town council members on Feb. 26 opted not to act on the request from the local brewing company. Currently, the chamber handles alcohol sales at town events.
“Those are chamber events,” Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols said. “Those are the people this conversation should be had with. Bypassing the people in charge of the event is not necessarily a good look.”
Matt Burrier, the director of worldwide sales at Burley Oak, addressed the council this week with two requests. First, he said the brewery wanted to provide free samples and sell packaged products at the Berlin Farmers Market. Officials said that was a request that could be handled at the staff level by Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells. Wells noted that Lyon Rum and The Buzz Meadery operated similarly at the market, selling their products and offering free samples.
With no action needed from the council for that request, officials moved on to discussion of Burrier’s request to have Burley Oak sell alcohol at Jazz, Blues, Wine & Brews; the Small Town Throw Down; Berlin Fiddlers Convention and Oktoberfest. He said rather than selling beer to the chamber for it to sell and serve, as has been done in the past, Burrier said the brewery wanted to sell the beer on its own.
“What I think is being asked is go go around the vendor approval process,” said Ryan Nellans, executive director of the chamber.