When the coronavirus pandemic finally abates, Dunwoody will be poised to welcome those looking to celebrate by hopping between pubs and breweries.
The City Council approved March 9 permitting breweries, microbreweries and distilleries to open in the city while also giving the OK to allow residents and visitors to stroll freely within the Dunwoody Village commercial area with a cup of booze in hand.
The new ordinances went into effect immediately.
Before the March 9 vote, city code only permitted brew pubs, which are required to sell food. The new ordinance says microbreweries, to be allowed in certain areas of the city like Perimeter Center and Dunwoody Village, must be in buildings smaller than 15,000 square feet and can only produce fewer than 15,000 barrels of beer a year.
Breweries that want to produce more than 15,000 barrels of beer would have to get a special permit from the city. A barrel is 31 gallons for brewers. Distillers have no set limit on how many barrels of liquor they can produce but are limited to buildings smaller than 15,000 square feet. Barrels for distillers are 53 gallons.
The city’s new open-container entertainment district generally encompasses the store frontage of the Dunwoody Hall shopping center and The Shops at Dunwoody to the west, Dunwoody Village Parkway to the north and east and Mount Vernon Road to the south. The district also includes the parking lots to the east and west of Chamblee-Dunwoody Road and all public plazas and sidewalks within the boundary.
Businesses within the entertainment district licensed to sell alcohol on premises can sell one 16-ounce alcoholic drink per customer in a clear plastic cup with a sticker designating it is as authorized for outside consumption, according to the new ordinance.