Alabamians For Specialty Beer

A Statement from the Board of Directors of Free the Hops

By Gabe Harris | Published: May 22, 2012

With the Governor signing the Gourmet Bottle Bill into law, Free the Hops has met the second of our two main goals.  So, what now?  We still plan on coordinating beer festivals and Magic City Brewfest is coming up in less than two weeks – what a great way to celebrate our third bill being signed into law by the Governor of the State of Alabama.  And did you go to FestivAle last November?  It was awesome – too good for us to not do it again.

As far as our agenda goes, we are going to have a meeting of the minds this summer to discuss just that.  So, hang on – we will have that answer for you before too long. In the meantime, your membership still matters.  We will retain our lobbyist (who plays a MAJOR role in what we do) on an annual basis.  Your membership dollars and attending events is how we pay him (and we do not feel like we could have passed any of our legislation without him).  So keep up your support!  FTH can’t change laws without Alabamians who are passionate about craft beer as well.  Your voice is the most important thing.  Craft beer in Alabama is still growing and we plan on being a major part of that growth.  We will have more on our mission in the coming months.

Cheers!

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4 Comments

  1. Jonathan Lizenby
    Posted May 23, 2012 at 2:27 pm | Permalink

    Homebrew!!!!

  2. Jordan
    Posted May 23, 2012 at 3:49 pm | Permalink

    Homebrew next IMO.

  3. derek
    Posted May 24, 2012 at 2:44 pm | Permalink

    I would love to get into brewing beer without breaking the law, I think backing the homebrew will encourage more craft beer fans in AL

  4. DocBrown
    Posted May 25, 2012 at 1:44 pm | Permalink

    A homebrew legalization effort is already being spearheaded by the various homebrew clubs in Alabama:
    http://www.alahomebrewing.org/
    After several years with limited success, this year we made it through the House and passed the Senate committee. According the bill sponsors, we had the votes to pass the Senate as well, but the bill simply ran out of time as the legislative session ended. We have very high hopes for next year. The House and Senate sponsors have promised to carry on with the effort.

    FTH has been supportive of the homebrewing bills in previous years, and I’m sure the organization will continue to support the efforts next year. Given that the bill was so close to passage this year, I don’t think it makes sense for FTH to start the process over.