(Missoula, MT) – In late December, Big Sky Brewing took some heat on its Facebook page for posting a photo of a worker with the carcass of a mountain lion. Three months later, the Big Sky Brewing Facebook page is at the center of another debate.

The much-talked about battle between the Montana Tavern Association and some members of the Montana Brewers Association took an interesting turn this week when Big Sky Brewing voiced support for the MTA-backed bill that would potentially introduce new costs to certain small breweries offering taproom sales. Big Sky is willing and able to pay those costs (licensing fees) so that it can sell beer out of its brewery, something it currently can’t do under Montana law.

This post calling for a boycott went viral on Reddit’s Beer board on Wednesday and a live petition on Change.org contains approximately 250 signatures from those supporting a boycott of Big Sky.

Big Sky took to Tumblr to explain its position, noting that the Montana Brewers Association explicitly stated it did not support a boycott of Big Sky over its position.

The legislation, as written, says that if a brewery sells more than 40% of its beer inside the brewery, it would need to acquire a license that could cost up to $100,000. The MBA has not yet released a list of breweries that would be impacted by the legislation and what their associated costs would be for licenses though that would clear up some of the issues around HB616.

On Thursday, an executive action was passed pushing back a vote on the bill until next Wednesday while the stakeholders have more time to sort out differences.