Jacksonville’s Aardwolf Brewery got a visit from the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (ABT) on July 9 that the business said on its Facebook page on July 10 that seemed connected to someone contacting the state's chief regulator.
Agents from ABT entered the brewery with a notice of noncompliance that was filled out before they set foot in the door, the brewery's Facebook post said. The reason for noncompliance? EO, or Executive Order.
“Had we done something wrong? No. Have we been in compliance this whole time? Yes. The paperwork had to be amended on site to say that the visit was for Informational Purposes,” the brewery said in the Facebook post.
The brewery said in their Facebook post that they believe the visit was connected to an individual speaking to Halsey Beshears, head of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).
“The ABT is his enforcement arm that is supposed to be keeping overcrowded restaurant bars in check right now. Turns out this is not a one-off incident, as many breweries who have reached out to Halsey also have been immediately hit with inspections. He has doubled down in his war against breweries by trying to intimidate those who bother him,” the Facebook post said.
The brewery also uploaded an image of the inspection record from that night.
As of 6:30 p.m. PST, the post had more than 185 comments and 1,000 shares.
Many comments in the post were supportive of Aardwolf’s position or questioning the enforcement actions. A few criticized.
“Breweries and small businesses are easy target for local authorities with fines and overburdened regulation, they know small businesses will have [to] pay the fines. Nobody gets Covid at Publix, Walmart, Home Depot but only in small businesses and the beach. We are with you and today I’m picking up my beer batch for the weekend from you guys,” Facebook user Robert Roderick Rodriguez commented.
Brian Slucker wrote in the comments that We Brewz had seven visits to their three locations in a 10-day period:
“There is an anonymous line to call in complaints and they come in with a prefilled out form assuming that the call is true and has no motive behind it. I can tell you that is not the case. This is so much fun for the ex disgruntled employee or anyone who has some sort of gripe bc they file a complaint and in comes the armed ATF," Slucker commented on Facebook. "This is getting worse by the day and I can tell you we haven’t shut down completely for one day this year and to date no cases of Covid from a visit to Brewz that we know of or even heard of. Totally makes sense that we can’t serve, let me tell you! Well written guys!”
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