Owner Felicia Keith-Jones of High Mark Distillery in Sterling rallied for support of House Bill 309 at the Soldotna Chamber luncheon today.
Keith-Jones: “All distilleries across the state of Alaska have been completely shut down for their tastings, tours, and sales except through our distributors so sales are still going on but for this tourist season we are absolutely shut down unless House Bill 309 is able to be pushed through. We have now made it to the Ruling Committee and we had over 21 legislators sign on as an absolute yes, we have been completely unopposed, meaning nobody disagrees with the fact that we should be able to be open just like breweries and wineries.”
HB 309 would allow distilleries to sell directly to customers and offer tours of distilleries which could include tastings.
Keith-Jones added that the Alcohol Beverage Control Board considers High Mark is a regional anchor business for tourism.
Keith-Jones: “Business that allows people to stay in the community a little bit longer and realize that there are other things to do besides fish and stay in our hotels we also have rainy day activities like having a tour or having a tasting at a distillery which is very pleasant and an option and without that ability to have our doors open we’re going to have to tell about 3,000 people up to 100,000 people no thank you we can’t help you this year.”
She said that people interested in supporting HB 309 can write, email, or call the offices of Rep. Mike Chenault or Rep. Kurt Olson to tell them your name and why you support the bill.
