From Brian Lockhart, CT Post:
Fifth State Distillery will be allowed to continue producing small batch vodka, whiskey and liqueurs at its current location.
On Thursday Connecticut’s Liquor Control Commission announced the renewal of the small business’ annual license despite intense opposition from a local City Council member and some residential neighbors.
Operators Bridget and Rob Schulten in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media thanked the commission and praised Bridgeport as “a fantastically diverse city where we wish to continue growing our 100 percent locally sourced Connecticut product. … As a family run business we want to have productive relationships within the community and have fostered those with many in the city of Bridgeport. We believe in the promise and potential of Bridgeport.”
Located on Asylum Street, Fifth State’s initial permit to offer private tours, small tastings and sell limited bottles of its product to visitors was issued June 24, 2016. The distillery, according to Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration, has been an overall positive attraction for Bridgeport and the Schultens had been in negotiations with the city to lease nearby municipal land for an outdoor tasting patio.
But Councilwoman Maria Pereira gathered over 70 petition signatures to force a June 24 liquor commission teleconference on Fifth State’s license.
Full story here.
It says it all when Maria says if she she any violation she will call the police, the zoning officials and of course the PRESS.
I grew up near there, played LL across the street at the old GE fields. Went to the dump today. There are a few thriving light industrial operations, several others that are boarded up while a few more are apparently open but total eyesores. There’s the transfer station, a cemetery and the dog pound. We’re lucky a high-end distillery even considered the site, despite having to put up with publicity seeking “activists” disrupting and fighting the operation. They should change the name back to “Common Council” when you consider the wing nuts and crooks the boys picked to sit on it.