Meanwhile, brewery owners would like to see lawmakers come to an agreement on their rules and regs before the end of lame duck.

Owners say the state's strict guidelines for breweries is pushing them out.

And a continued standoff between Governor Murphy's office and the legislature over how to move forward is only making the situation worse.

Leaving the businesses in limbo as the clock winds down on a crucial January 1st deadline.

Ted Goldberg reports.

Basically, a this is where all the magic happens.

It's been four years since Mike Jones left behind a career as a radiation therapist at Sloan Kettering.

To work full time at Hackensack Brewing.

For the first year.

So it was real crazy.

I would like come in, harvest yeast in the morning, jump on a bus, go treat patients for 12 hours, come back dry hop.

Jones says he took a pay cut to pursue his passion in beer making.

I made really good money.

I had a great career.

I love working oncology.

This is different.

This is my baby.

Like any baby.

The brewery has been a labor of love mixed with some aggravation here and there.

Jones's brewery tries to stay involved with the Hackensack community.

This painting is a depiction of the actual war of Outpost down the block at Newbridge Landing in 1780.

But it's become much more uncertain, with stricter brewery regulations going back into effect.

In the New Year.

Restrictions put on hold in July, which include a cap on private and public events and the ability to coordinate with food trucks so patrons can enjoy meals while drinking restrictions, which brewers say handcuff their business.

If you're not planning, you're dying in any small business, especially in our business, we have local vendors that want to do things here, whether it be food trucks or or something like that.

But we we have the inability to plan, and that is like the death toll.

We don't know if we can book weddings We don't know if we need to lay people off in our case, to enjoy our production staff as our need for production is about to decrease dramatically.

Scott Wells is the director of sales at Valero Snort Another Bergen County brewery hampered by uncertainty.

I'm going to have to say no to giving an event that has a great charitable component because it's not a moneymaker.

The Brewers tell us that the state's division of alcoholic beverage control told them that the rules won't be enforced.

But people like Jones say they can't run their business behind a government entity saying, Trust us the way that they put these conditions on our licenses.

Last year, the day before the legislature went on vacation, was the very opposite of acting in good faith, the life of a legislative bill with a compromise in the arguments and debates that go on.

This is just a part of what happens.

State Senator Gordon Johnson voted for a bill that would ease these rules, and so did every other senator in New Jersey.

Governor Murphy gave it a conditional veto because he asked the legislature to include liquor license reform in a new version of the bill.

I had felt that we would be better off just separating out the brewers and distillers and the meaderies and the other groups, the stewardship of Bill for them and work on the bigger bill later.

Unlike brewers in New Jersey, Senator Johnson is confident that relief will come soon.

I'm 95% sure that the Brewers will have the relief they're looking for on the governor's desk.

Before the end of the session.

Sometimes it just feels like New Jersey does not want us to succeed, and that's kind of a tough pill to swallow.

Jones is worried about what could happen if a bill isn't signed during the lame duck session.

I don't have any plans on closing, and I'll fight for it, but I think you're going to see a lot more breweries closing.

You've seen a trend of it in the last year, and I think you'll see more.

New Jersey Breweries sent a letter to the ABC two weeks ago asking for another six month pause, but say they've never received a response.

Governor Murphy's office deferred our request to the Attorney General's office, who declined to comment for this story.

In Hackensack.

I'm Ted Goldberg.

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