40,000 kegs of beer. surly s beer is so popular that there is a waiting list for customers. omar had to focus on increase his supply with so much demand. we can t make enough beer here. we had to decide it cap our growth at this building or build a new facility. he decided to open a new location. simple right? not in this case. because of this decision omar had to become the driving force behind a change in state law. minnesota is one of the state where you could not sell someone a glass of beer at a production brewery. in other word, he could sell his beer in bars, restaurant and liquor stores but that s about it. when someone comes in for a sure, we give them beer. it is not legal to charge them for a glass of beer. in some states you can, in some states you can t. i want it have a restaurant and bar and sell his own product. that put him on a collision course with the law.
law put small businesses add a disadvantages. that s how businesses start. someone with an idea, and we need to make sure we aren t putting roadblocks in their way. aren t we here it create ideas and create jobs sfwhz when the appeal fell on deaf ears omar and his team took their plate public. the fight had to be taken outside of the capitol doors and really the people were going to have to kind of help us out and support us. fans of sur pli brewing, better moan as sur pli nation, mobilized and they quickly took action. we said, please contact your legislators. they said, what can we do. we said, please tell your family, friend, we need your help. facebook and twitter turned into base camps of information or surly supporters as the surly team spent hours making ilgity . we rallied troops and said, here is what they are saying, this is what it means for the proj aengt this is the next step. the support never waivered.
are there, there is someone that want it keep them that way. that is why he had to prove that his campaign wasn t just about selling pints of beer. we made it more about small business, big idea, free market. this guy want to grow his business, why is anyone standing in his way, let alone the government. omar says his business wouldn t be the only one benefiting. hundreds of jobs could be created with a minor change. it became a jobs bill. we have the opportunities to do it here. let s do it hero posed to another state. this is about jobs. jennifer loom was once of the sponsors about the surly bill. she believed it was an opportunity to gift economy a boost. what he was seeking is a miner change, in my opinion, to our liquor statute in the say the of minnesota bp that one of the reasons i came to the legislature was it break down barriers and cut that red tape. representative loon says the
if we can somehow manage it change the law that brewery kes sell a glass of beer we are not just building a bigger brewery, we are building a destination. with a political battle grewing omar created a team to take his issue to the capitol. he said i want to change the law because i want a brewery unlike anything else in minnesota. i said, sound good. where do i sign on? hired lobby enlisted publicist clint roberts of the company one simple plan. i realized, what exactly he wanted to do, and realized it with a 78-year-old prohibition law and said, well, this is going to take some this isn t going to happen in two weeks. this will have to be something that when we map it out, we have to stay relevant for months to even have a fighting chance. even with that, who knows. but let s go for it. despite some support, omar felt some resistance from the start. there are a lot of people that didn t want it see that change happen. just that s the way politics works is usually when
lawmakers got a constant stream of e-mails and phone calls. people started to take more seriously surly nation and how much after hot button issue this was. it was about small business. it was about beer. and it was about the evolution of a company. legislators took in the and a process that could take years turned into just months. with overwhelming support in the minnesota house and senate, the surly bill became law in 2011. the result? breweries like ourselves can get a tap room license. that means we can sell beer that we make here at this facility, we can tell this beer in a tap room. just glasses of beer. with a win in the surly column the it company is finalizing plans for expansion. omar says the fight was worth it because the bill opened the door to growth for everyone. one of the reasons is it is hard to open a brewery. it takes a tremendous amount of cash. can you see all of the equipment you ve got to get. just being able to sell someone some pint of beer a huge