Colonial America and Great Britain found a way to go to war over tea and it appears a war spanning Lynn and Swampscott is brewing over beer.
Initial reports suggest Craft Beer Cellar has determined that Lynn-based Bent Water Brewing Company’s beverages should not be sold in Craft Beer outlets, including one on Paradise Road.
This omission is an obvious loss to local beer lovers and a maddening case of local businesses potentially working against each other.
Bent Water is one of Lynn’s newest entrepreneurial additions and brewery owners wasted no time in becoming good local corporate citizens. Bent Water reached out to the Lynn community, supported charities and made sure its product got served at all kinds of fun Lynn events.
Craft Beer is a welcome addition to the Swampscott community and another charity-oriented business reflecting well on the town’s reputation for generosity. So why the apparent ban on Bent Water by Craft Beer?
It is hoped sound minds high up the Craft Beer corporate ladder will revisit the threatened ban and ensure Bent Water is among the selections customers consider when they walk into the Swampscott store.
It’s hard enough to make a success out of a business, especially a small one facing tight profit margins and overhead costs that always seem to threaten to expand. The American economy has rebounded since the tanking it endured in 2008. But many smaller communities, and small businesses in them, have seen economic progress lag and, in some cases, stagnate.
It is in the interest of business community representatives in Swampscott and Lynn to step in and help craft — pun intended — a compromise allowing Bent Water to be sold by Craft Beer.
It may be the ban is all a big misunderstanding that has been blown out of proportion. But it would serve Craft Beer’s interests to remember a quote found in taverns and bars: “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
There is no reason Craft Beer executives can’t take those words to heart and make room on their shelves for Bent Water.