Bar owners can have quality of life. Here's proof.

Gerard Leary has run two very different concepts in two very different parts of NYC.

On one hand there's One Mile House, an awesome (but now closed) bar/restaurant with a ton of top-level taps in bustling downtown Manhattan. On the other hand is his current venture, a small neighborhood spot in Sunnyside, Queens called Sweet Avenue.

Gerard used Covid as an opportunity to take a step back and re-evaluate: did he want to keep up the same kind of life he had before, which included a commute of over an hour to his bar in Manhattan? Did he have to keep that pedal way down to the metal and keep getting home super late without seeing his family?

Or was there a way he could pair his love of craft beer and the industry with a life actually lived in his home neighborhood? Could he open up an awesome bottle shop within walking distance from his home that allowed him to spend more time with his family and his neighbors?

The answer to that last question was yes. Check out the interview to hear more.

The economy's overall inflation number continues to slow in the US—the 4% mark we saw in May was the lowest since 2021. This, of course, is good news, and led the Fed to not raise interest rates for the first time in more than a year.

Congrats, prospective home buyers.

Interestingly, Brewbound reported that the CPI (consumer price index) was higher for beer than in the overall economy, both for on-prem (5%) and off-prem (6.1%).

Sorry, beer buyers.

The takehome: I noticed my favorite local taproom finally upped their prices after hanging tight through the crazy couple of inflationary years we've seen. If you haven't seen it yet, expect prices to rise soon. Production prices have just risen too much for them to absorb.

• A big bill that makes big changes to Wisconsin alcohol laws is advancing in the state legislature. Among the changes are an increased limit on what brewpubs can produce and self-distribute, contract brewing guidance, and the creation of "special agents" to oversee the industry. Guess we'll be having some James Bond types roving around the state. Can't wait.
• We previously reported on how NJ has some weird laws for breweries, like being limited to a certain number of events per year and not being able to host food trucks. (Crazy, I know) Well, it looks like that may be changing, as the state legislature seems poised to pass a bill that allows food trucks and removes the cap on events.
• A couple weeks back we discussed how wine may make its way into NY grocery stores. Well, not this year—the NY legislature's session ended without enacting that change. That's a win for wine and spirits stores, as is the fact that they're now able to stay open 2 hours longer.
• This week newsrooms around the country reported that Modelo Especial outsold Bud Light as a result of the boycott we've all heard about. Brewer's Association economist Bart Watson debunked the stats a bit in a frustrated-seeming Twitter post.
• Anchor Brewing has decided to limit its distribution to CA, and has also decided to end the production of it's heralded Anchor Christmas Ale. Both points are a bummer, though I think the latter is more significant, since Anchor's take was one of the best US-made Christmas ales.