‘We are dying.’ Tri-Cities breweries and wineries cry foul over state decision

Tri-Cities wineries and breweries got the rug pulled out from under them Thursday, just after they thought they’d been thrown a lifeline.

The owners believed they were allowed to reopen with outside seating just like restaurants under the modified Phase 1 plan approved for Benton and Franklin counties starting July 3.

However, on Thursday the state clarified that drinking establishments that don’t serve full meals made in their own kitchens are excluded from opening patios and decks.

“It is incredibly disappointing,” said Josh McDonald, the executive director of the Washington Wine Institute, a industry advocate group.

The rule means, for example, a winery tasting room with outside seating that brings in a food truck can’t open.

A Washington State Department of Health official told the Herald that winery and brewery operations, just as bars, were never intended to be included in the plan approved by the state.

The state health department said that those businesses bring in tourists from outside the counties as well as promote a social setting where people gather for an extended time without masks — both situations can increase the risk of contracting COVID-19 and does not fit with the state’s containment strategy.

“If you are sitting at a restaurant or a winery or a brewery — you are outside. What is the difference?” McDonald said to the Herald.

McDonald said he knows of no winery-related incidents in state that caused a COVID infection outbreak.

And he said food has not been a requirement in any other county that has reopened.

“There is no doubt that food service vs. no service makes any difference,” he said. “We are working hard to be treated fairly along with restaurants — we operate in a very similar fashion.”

However, Benton and Franklin counties are considered one of the worst hot spots in the state with more than 5,000 cases and 139 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

This week alone, 15 people have died from COVID-related complications, according to health officials on Thursday.

Yet, Tri-Cities winery and brewers say they believe they can reopen safely outside and keep their businesses from closing permanently just as restaurants can.

Punch in gut

Tyson Crudup, the owner of Sage Brewing in Pasco, was taking advantage of recent ordinances passed by the city councils of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland lifting restriction to allow more outside seating in parking lots and sidewalks.

He already has spent several thousand dollars on equipment for an outside seating area when he learned from the Herald that the state wouldn’t allow it.

Crupdup said it was particularly important for businesses like his that are tucked away next to public walkways where there was no space to create seating except in a parking spot.

“This outdoor seating could mean everything to us,” Crudup said earlier in the week.

But the new state clarification of the rules stopped his plans.

“It is another example of how this COVID crisis is giving us little wrinkles,” he said.

Crudup contends his business should be able to qualify because they serve food at his brewery — it just isn’t made by his staff.

Before COVID shut down indoor dining in March, Sage Brewing featured a rotation of food trucks for his customers — as many brewers do throughout the Tri-Cities, he said.

“It shows me how important it is to get these masks on and get out of Phase 1,” Crudup said. “We are dying. These businesses are dying.”

Confusion

The Washington Wine Commission and several wineries said they didn’t know about the sudden reversal until the Herald called Thursday.

The tasting room manager at Hedges Family Estate family estate said she was caught off guard by the news.

The Benton City winery’s Facebook page shows they recently scheduled a full line-up of food trucks on Saturdays stretching into the fall.

And other businesses, including Copper Top Tap House and Growler Fills in Kennewick, cave Cave B Estate Winery’s newly opened tasting room in Kennewick and Goose Ridge Estate’s tasting room in Richland, had started advertising on social media that they were welcoming back customers to their outside seating after the July 3 order took effect.

This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 11:19 AM.