Local businesses, such as The Garage Bikes + Brews in River Falls and The Barns of Lost Creek wedding venue in Beldenville, are struggling to interpret new alcohol laws in Wisconsin which make things more difficult for them to license their businesses.

New alcohol laws in Wisconsin have brought criticism from some business owners around the state, including Pierce County businesses.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gov. Tony Evers signed changes to the state’s alcohol regulations into law in December, which include a handful of laws that have changed the plans for some of Pierce County's businesses.

Some of the changes to the law include changes to licensing requirements for wedding venues, changes to requirements for producers and allowance for some venues and businesses to expand on what they can serve.

Co-owner of The Garage Bikes + Brews in River Falls, Matt Johnson, said his business is one of many small businesses that has felt the effects of the recent changes to the law.

“Our business was built on the premise that we could, with our brewer’s permit, sell other Wisconsin brewed beers as guest taps,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s son does brewing for the business on a small scale. Under the law change, Johnson said they now need to produce 250 barrels over a calendar year in order to have guest taps.

Through alternating premises, Johnson said the business could brew in a different location or under the direction of another brewer, or they could increase their production. The business currently produces 70-75 barrels a year, and Johnson said they currently do not have the room to produce the amount of alcohol needed to keep the guest taps.

According to Johnson, The Garage Bikes + Brews may be able to continue temporarily without change due to being classified in the same group as wineries. In the meantime, the business would need to find another way to adhere to regulations.

“I got the approval from the state agency to do that temporarily because they don’t know how to understand the laws that were written,” Johnson said. “That’s something that’s equivalent to what wineries do at the moment. Most wineries in this area don’t produce their own product, they have it brought in and pay the tax on it, so that’s the difference.”

Johnson said the business was given little notice, finding out about the requirements about a day before they were signed into law. When Johnson first heard about the regulations, he thought the worst of it would be getting some additional licensing, but things changed after finding out about the guest taps.

“My understanding was that if you produced more than 250 barrels, you got a retail license without having to apply for a Class B,” Johnson said. “So I was thinking, darn that’s bad for us that we can’t get the retail license, but I had no idea.”

A paragraph that Johnson said they “based their business on” was removed from the law.

“It was not the intention to hurt small businesses, but they definitely hurt small businesses. We’re not alone in this at all,” Johnson said. “We are unique that we have so many guest taps, or we did have so many guest taps, but that was the niche that we found, and it was awesome when it lasted.”

Johnson’s business has hosted over 400 different Wisconsin brewed products over four years and rotated them frequently.

“We don’t have all the answers still. We’re very, very uninformed on the legal process of the steps to be in compliance,” Johnson said. “They don’t even know. They’re trying to enforce stuff they don’t know how to interpret.”

Johnson said some businesses will benefit from other changes to the law. Some businesses have opportunities to sell other types of alcohol that they previously could not.

“Eventually, when we produce more, it will be a positive thing,” Johnson said. “Somehow we have to produce up to that 250 barrels.”

Statewide, some of the largest pushback on the new laws has come from wedding venues. Wedding barns now need to get liquor licenses as other event-hosting businesses would, which prompted a lawsuit to be filed against the state, according to a report from the Associated Press in May.

Mellissa Deyo, co-owner and coordinator of The Barns of Lost Creek wedding venue in Beldenville, estimated about 75% of wedding venues in the area operate by allowing couples to bring in what they want and hosting an open bar with professional bartenders and proper insurance.

Due to being located in a “dry township,” Deyo said there are even more hoops to jump through to meet regulations now. Deyo said the town board worked with a law firm to find a solution and get the venue proper licensing. Deyo is now looking into the “logistics” of meeting the regulations including whether or not they will need to make additions or upgrades to the property as a whole.

“It’s all very frustrating, just even the logistics part of it,” Deyo said.

Deyo shared the feeling that the information was dropped on businesses as the laws were being signed.

“That’s exactly how it happened,” Deyo said. “It was very sudden, and we never really got any notification as to when hearings were taking place, or whatever it is that they do before they try to make this into law.”

Other criticisms from Deyo included the wording of the laws, saying people still do not understand the requirements after reading them.

“The people on the town board, they’ve read through it probably a hundred times, and they said the language is just so convoluted that they still don’t really even understand it exactly,” Deyo said.

Deyo said the previous laws had been working for businesses, and the change will make things worse for not only many businesses but many consumers as well.

“Everything was working fine the way it was,” Deyo said. “And now we have to go through all this rigamarole, and it’s gonna be a headache, it’s gonna be more expensive for couples and really, we just don’t really understand why this has been pushed through.”

The Barns of Lost Creek will most likely remain operational throughout the process according to Deyo, who said they have until 2026 to get the licensing set in place. Deyo is looking to talk to people from the state still, but believes the application needs to be in before the end of 2025.

Deyo said the laws were pushed through by the Wisconsin Tavern League and theorized it was due to taking business away from bars, but said they are not taking business from each other.

“They’re afraid that all of us are unlicensed, just doing our thing under the radar,” Deyo said. “Which is not the truth at all.”

River Falls Community Services Director/Clerk Amy White said the law changes have affected most Wisconsin businesses, and business owners can reach out to their local clerks to help navigate any changes that might need to be made.