For those who were listening in to the Senate audio last week, it will come as no surprise that we took the strategic decision to hold off on pressing the Gourmet Beer Bill. By the time the semi-filibuster was resolved, it was late in the evening and the Senators were all cranky, tired, and hungry.
In that kind of environment our Gourmet Beer Bill would not have had good odds.
Mark your calendars for Monday, May 19th. This is the last day of the legislative session. HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, will be on the calendar. Please call your senators over the next week, and very politely request them to support HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill. You can call them whether or not you have done so already. You could also ask your friends, co-workers, family, neighbours, anyone you know who is not anti-alcohol – they, too can call their senators.
If you have family and friends who are out of state, get them to call as well – their opinion, and the tourist dollars that backs their opinion, are just as important to the senators as you and your opinion are.
If we all pull together, if we all rally our connections and contacts, we can achieve the aim we have been working towards for the last three years – we can start to Free those Hops from the chains of the archaic 6% ABV law. Let the Alabama Senate hear your voices loud and clear – let them hear the message –
FREE THE HOPS!
87 Comments
“Archaic” is just the word for our beer laws, and I sincerely hope that this Monday frees the hops!
Just checked the special order calander for the senat & do not see HB196???
Yeah, I just looked and I don’t see it either. I read that there won’t be any House bills on the special order calendar.
They are doing HB 319 right now.
I have a bad feeling that this budget, especially the education budget will foul up most of the day.
Just did some research, the HB196 is not on the special order calendar. For HB 196 to come up, they would have to work through the special order calendar and then they could bring up bills not on the calendar. I.E. another year without good beer! Boo State Senate!
Where are you finding the special order calendar? I can’t seem to locate it on the State Legislature website.
Thanks
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/SESSEODReportsCalendarSelection.asp
It’s on the calendar.
go to:
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLoginFire.asp
then click on “special order calendar” on the left
In the resulting window, click on any bill number and then click the get special order button.
This lists what’s on the calendar and you’ll notice that the beer bill is missing…..pitty.
It seems that whoever made the decision not to bring up the bill 10 days ago has screwed our chances.
Thanks, Brian, and “anonymous” for the info. I found it with no problems. Are they working the bills in the order listed in the calendar (Are they still on the FIRST bill)?
This could take forever. And now I’m hearing talk that our Governor has decided that he is not in favor of any pro-alcohol bills.
This really sucks.
This is what we get for not paying more attention to who is elected to our state legislature.
i’m listening to the senate audio and it really makes me angry to hear these people talking about their first grade teachers and bullies…what does this have to do with the bill? make your point, quit blabbing, and vote…GEEZ!! i can’t listen to this crap.
It’s called a filibuster. It’s sad. It’s shameful. It’s a waste of taxpayer money. But in the world of Alabama state politics, where me-vs.-you is more important than what’s best for this state’s residents, it’s one of the most powerful weapons a legislator has for keeping you from getting what you want.
Damn, I need a good beer right now.
I actually have good beer in the fridge. Drove to Douglasville, GA last week and picked up a bunch to get me by…
…would have preferred driving to Publix instead.
well…it’s kind of relevant to the topic at hand. i guess they do this to make themselves seem like they’re addressing the issue when in fact they are just filibustering. i wish there was something i could do because it makes me very angry. nobody is listening to them. i just kind of zone out. i feel sorry for the senators that really want to get some legislation passed but have to sit and listen to that. no wait…i feel sorry for myself. i want to drink good beer and have to sit and listen to that!!!
a chocolate stout would be awesome right now
Amen to that. Let’s see, where can I get a good beer? Drive to Georgia and bring it back – illegal. Brew my own – also illegal (Although it seems to be ok to open a store to sell homebrew equipment and supplies – kind of like the old days (remember paraphernalia shops – “items sold for novelty use only
”)
Seems Alabama, like all states, has its share of stupid laws. For instance, it’s illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church (that one must not apply to toupees). It’s illegal to flick a booger into the wind (seems sensible – only had to try that once to grasp the logic behind it). It’s illegal to have a ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time. (That’s why I keep mine in my shirt pocket).
I mean, honestly, can anyone make a good argument against the Gourment Beer Bill. Those against it always seem to pull out the drunken teenager card, but they can get drunker for less money by finding someone to buy a fifth of vodka (or whatever) for them at, surprisingly enough, a state-owned ABC store.
Anyway, just ranting and rambling. Kind of like our legislators are doing right now.
might sound like a long shot but if they don’t get all of these bills passed on taxes, don’t they have to come back for special sessions in a few weeks? If that is the case, isn’t there a chance that our bill can still be brought up?
By looking at their list of things to vote on, most seem like bills that need to be voted on. And if they can’t get them all in, due to a filibuster, it would seem that a special session would be called.
I know it is a long shot, but I was kind of hoping that before next year I would have access to good beer and I don’t really want to give up that hope just yet.
“Drive to Georgia and bring it back – illegal.”
(guess I should have been anonymous on that one)
So does this mean the bill is absolutely, positively dead for this year (other than potentially a special session)?
Don’t worry about it owsley9. You gotta do what you gotta do. I just brought an entire suitcase full of dirty underwear and Belgian Abbey beers back from Paris through ATL and back to good ol’ Anniston. (Where it is still illegal to wear blue jeans on Noble Street, by the way). I’d offer you a beer, but you’d probably want to wash the bottle first
.
Owsley, your transporting-across-state-lines secret is safe with me, though my silence comes at a price. What beer did you say you brought back from Georgia, again?
I was looking for my favorite, Easy Street Wheat, but I settled for some Agave Wheat, Chimay, Sweetwater IPA, and one other that the name has escaped…another wheat beer recommended by the seller.
I like my darks, but I was in the mood for wheat. Can you tell?
They day is not over yet, and the special order calendar that has been published is only one of the calendars that will be dealt with today. HB196 is not eligible to be dealt with yet.
Patience is required… easier said than done!
For the love of Pete, can anyone tell me what J. T. “Jabo” Waggoner has been talking about for the last half+ hour? I’m trying to connect the dots between his high school in Ensley closing 30+ years after he graduated, George Barber having a race that track that he believes is longer than two miles, Porsche, him going to auburn then transferring to Bham Southern, meeting his grandson at church yesterday, his grandson scoring a 33 on the ACT, and on and on and on. I’m trying to connect the dots and stay awake at the same time. I can’t come up with anything. No wonder there was a fist fight in the senate a while back. What a joke!
Having gouged my ears out with a pair of freshly-sharpened #2 pencils, I’m following this comments thread for updates. Thanks for keeping them coming!
I tell you why people won’t bring business to Alabama… just listen to the Senate. We can’t get anything done.
Can someone shut this old fart up? It is painful on so many levels. And btw. it’s Thyssen-Krupp, not Thyssen-Krump. *@#$!
“Be here ’til midnight”…talking about NOTHING. HA!
I can almost hear good beer pouring down the drain. Or maybe that’s just the blood pouring from my ears after listening to this drivel.
Now they’re talking about the Dow Jones Industrial Average! Lake Martin is full too, apparently. So random! Listening this would be much easier if I were drinking single malt scotch.
Well, I guess the FTH lobbyist will just have to cash those checks for another bill
In my never-ending quest for new beers (which, unfortunately, cannot be accomplished without leaving the great state of Alabama, I just brought back a couple of interesting ones from Europe. One is a Russian beer called “??????? ??????? ???????”. Try ordering that in your local pub. Concerned that it might translate into something along the lines of “brewed with pure Chernobyl pond water”, I actually found two translaters (bless you, Google) which allowed me to change the Cyrillic characters to Latin characters, and then to English. The name is “Baltic Region 9 Strong”. Sounds promising.
Also got one called “La Biere Du Demon” labeled as “The Most Alcoholic Pale Beer in the World”. Then I saw the 12% ABV note. Pfft.
Strangely enough, when I asked a couple of Parisienne bartenders to recommend a good beer, the list included Heineken and Corona. Go figure.
Guys,
I think you all missed a lesson in politics. This is an election year. They are dealing with the state budget and the education trust fund. These guys are not going to do anything that may harm their reelection bids. If they take action on these bills they are liable to piss somebody off. I know this is inefficient and stupid, but its just the way it works. No. 2, this is a reelection year, probably not the best time to bring up a beer bill in Alabama, due to the fact that Jesus votes. Jesus may turn water to wine, but he sure a S### doesn’t like Chimay. More people that think this way vote in Alabama, than people who love Chimay. By the way, Red Label is my favorite!
Question 2
Where can I apply for the job of Free the Hops Lobbyist? I don’t think that your guy/girl maybe that swift.
“But our lobbyist decided that under those circumstances it was likely they wouldn’t get through the entire calendar of statewide bills proposed by the Rules Committee, and he feared if we opted for a spot on that calendar we might not come up before the body adjourned. He therefore opted instead to wait for the final legislative day. It was critical strategic decision in a stressful environment, and it’s why we are paying him good money.”
Hopefully it wasn’t too good of money..
What do yall make of this recess until 8?? Is there any hope?
Well lets face the fact that no matter how good of a lobbyist we may have working for us, they will be fighting an uphill battle to be 1/1000th as loud in the ears of politicians as:
1) Anheuser-Busch’s lobbyist
2) The Church of Christ’s members that vote (or threaten to at least)
I just checked the special order calendar. It looks like they have added a lot of bills to the calendar, but not HB196.
I thought I was listening to the Senate audio feed, but it turned out to be a rerun of a “Hee-Haw” episode. Kind of hard to tell the difference.
This is what we get for living in Alabama.
Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia have the lowest abv laws in the country. They are also 3 of the poorest states in the US. Coincidence???
anybody listening?
should have taken the deal that was offered mid-session. bad mistakes gettin made, moving to the last day of the session was just the most recent…not the worst! oh well – another year another 4.00 a gallon drive to georgia for beer
If I send back my FTH t-shirt, can I get my donation back? Just kidding of course, but I agree with the above that some bad decisions have been made during this campaign.
I thought that the board would be hopping tonight, but it’s dead silent. Does anyone have any inside info? Is it true that HB196 isn’t even on the agenda?
does the bill have to go through both houses again next year???
It’s amazing to me that I am actually spending my time listening to this…
i wish someone would give an update for those of us that cannot listen
Here’s a sample:
“Please don’t spank him….. Education is not a right; it’s a privilege…. Some people just don’t want an education. Why should we waste our money trying to educate them?”
These people are idiots.