Anthony Maddalena, owner of Bagtown Brewing in Sackville, N.B., had learned he couldn’t sell craft beer at farmers’ markets in New Brunswick, after he was already selling empty growlers at the Sackville farmer’s market with a voucher customers could take to his brewery just a few blocks away to fill the growler with beer.

“Originally we thought it would be a great idea to promote the brewery. It ended up being a hassle,” he said. He has since learned that this method was becoming a hassle, so instead, Maddalena has opened the microbrewery early on Saturday mornings in the hope of attracting market-goers.

“Farmers’ markets exist to incubate all of these small Mom and Pop businesses that are getting started in our communities,” said Michael Freeman, manager of the Sackville Farmers’ market. “To see someone excluded for legislative reasons is disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Sackville is minutes away from the Nova Scotia border, where craft beer is freely sold in farmers’ markets, but interprovincial legislation prohibits Maddalena from selling New Brunswick beer in Nova Scotia.

New Brunswick has the most craft breweries per capita, with 9.4 breweries per 100,000 drinking-age adults.

The most frustrating part is currently, only local wineries can sell their products in New Brunswick farmers’ markets.

Maddalena says he has reached out to the Department of Public Safety and NB Liquor repeatedly over the years but has never been able to get a clear answer as to why this policy exists and how it could be changed. The province currently has no plans to change the current policy.