The Press Herald has published an article on the impact the shutdown is having on brewers.
An obscure agency known as the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau – a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury that oversees breweries – has furloughed all but 35 of its 483 employees since Oct. 1. That means no one is available to approve new breweries or what are known as certification of label approvals, which any beer must have before it can be sold. The applications for the certification typically come in at a rate of about 400 per day.