Birmingham News: Alabama beer brewing laws near change, but some say not far enough

A pretty good overview of the bill’s current status, including the fact that the compromise  is a little controversial. However, I want to point out a few points that I think aren’t quite accurate. This isn’t an indictment of the author – it’s all quite complicated and he gets it mostly right.

Most objectionable to opponents, the compromise bill would allow brewpubs to sell their beer to wholesalers but would not allow brewpub customers to buy beer to take home with them.

This was never in the original form of SB192, so it shouldn’t make the “compromise bill” objectionable. The potential implications on the three tier system were expected to be too controversial. Despite what our opponents claim, we actually don’t write legislation in an attempt to bust up the three tier system. This is a good transition to the next point:

“At Free the Hops, we really don’t care about the three-tier system,” Roberts said. “But I can see why the distributors would want to protect it.”

[...] Roberts said the distributors have influence in the Legislature and getting a bill that abolishes the three-tier system is not likely — at least not now.

When I say we don’t care about the three tier system, I mean we don’t care one way or the other. It’s simply not a part of our agenda – we’re not out to protect it or bust it up. It just is. Personally, my only problem with the three tier system is that our opponents use it as a war cry to prevent common-sense legislation. I’m not sure in what context I said that, “a bill that abolishes the three-tier system is not likely — at least not now,” but Free the Hops has never considered anything like that.

Birmingham News: Free the Hops calls for boycott of beers stocked by Anheuser-Busch distributors in Alabama

Quoting my friend Stuart Carter:

This is not a decision that the board of directors or the senior officers of Free the Hops took lightly. It was one that was reached after a lot of agonizing and careful consideration. This wasn’t really where we wanted to be at this point in the legislative session. At this point in the session, we wanted to be celebrating. This is the opposite end of where we hoped to be.

If anything, that’s an understatement. I will point out that these distributors can stop this boycott at any time.

The vote for the boycott was unanimous, with one board member recused from any discussion or vote due to conflict of interest.

More details in a few hours.

Montgomery Advertiser: New Brew Pub owners making big plans

After months of negotiations, the Montgomery Brewpub location has been sold. The new owners are interested in re-opening the brewpub, but they are hesitant due to the legal restrictions that would be placed on their license.

He said whether the plans would include a brewery and pub likely will be determined by whether area supporters of a brew pub can get Alabama’s law changed so that a historic brewery does not also have to have a restaurant and so that beer brewed there could be sold outside the pub, such as at local businesses.

So Alabama currently has zero operating brewpubs (a brewery that can legally sell its beer on-location), despite an expanding brewing industry. All of the new and growing breweries currently in Alabama have decided to avoid the “brewpub” license like the plague due to it’s outright ban on distribution outside of the brewery and other requirements.

It’s time for a change. It’s time for the Brewery Modernization Act.

Birmingham News: Brewers are hopping to the Alabama suds rush

Nice write up about the growth of the brewing industry in Alabama since the Gourmet Beer Bill passed in 2009. As of Saturday, there will be 4 local breweries operating in the Huntsville metro area alone.

Despite this being only our second year of competition, and having over 80 teams with which to contend, FTH garnered Top 10 finishes in two of the five food categories: 4th place for burgers and 8th place for butts!

Through the generosity of the J. Clyde the team had more than enough pork, chicken and beef to feed attendees, volunteers and, of course, enter the various competitions. Enough food was left over to make a substantial donation to the Jimmie Hale Mission, a charity that cares for homeless men located near Sloss.

Our thanks also go out to Bradley Webb, owner of an awesome smoker who allowed us to borrow it for the weekend, and to Scott Holmes, owner of Charlie’s BBQ in Odenville who introduced us to Bradley when our smoker plans fell through at the last minute.

Did we mention pouring? Thanks to the generosity of Good People Brewing Company, now in their glorious new brewery at 14th St and 2nd Ave S, and Birmingham Beverage, we were able to slake the thirst of many an attendee with samples of Good People’s Hitchhiker IPA and Brown Ale. Quite a few eyes were opened to good beer and the need for continuing reform of Alabama’s beer laws at Stokin’ the Fire this year.

We also want to thank Kimbellee Fipps and all of the other wonderful folks at Sloss for putting this great event on every year. We had a great time and look forward to doing it all over again next year!

The Huntsville Times recently ran a piece about Huntsville’s new brewery, Straight to Ale. On the online comments, someone asked a very good question:

Why don’t any of these brewery’s here in Huntsville have a bar at the brewery itself. I would like to go and see the process and be able to have a beer right there instead of having to go to other bars to get it.

Other comments quickly answered that very good question – it’s illegal. Unfortunately, Alabama breweries like Straight to Ale, Olde Towne, and Good People aren’t allowed to sell beer at the brewery. Well, they can, but they have to be located in an historic building, in a county that had a brewery before 1919, and they have to have a restaurant that seats at least 80. Oh, and then they’re not allowed to sell their beer outside of their brewery. In order for Straight to Ale, Olde Towne, and Good People to have a tasting room, they have to pull all of their beer from your favorite stores, restaurants, and beer bars. Not a great option.

Fortunately, all that could start changing very soon. As I pointed out earlier, the Brewery Modernization Act should be voted on in the House and Senate next week!

The Brewery Modernization Act removes the historic building requirement, the historic county requirement, and the restaurant requirement for having on-premise sales at the brewery. Also importantly, it allows breweries with on-premise sales to continue their sales to wholesalers to be distributed to other bars, restaurants, and stores.

If you’re like the commenter and want to see tap rooms and more brewpubs in Alabama, help us change the law. It’s up for a vote next week. As always, we make it as simple on you as possible by providing a simple tool to help you find your senator and representative and their history with our legislation. Simply call or email your state senator and state representative and tell them you support The Brewery Modernization Act and want them to as well.

Free the Hops: Find your legislators

Birmingham News: Alabama bill aims to help brewpubs through deregulation.

I really like this part:

Roberts said lifting the restrictions would create economic development opportunities for brewpubs and breweries to grow in the state. “It’s really about making an environment more friendly for business, which ordinarily we would all be in favor of.”

Although the Brewery Modernization Act is about beer in a way, it’s more about business. We’re not making beer more available and we’re not asking for beers with more alcohol. We simply want more breweries to come from Alabama entrepreneurs.

We’ve come to realize that there are a lot of craft beer drinkers in this state – people who enjoy good beer. They’re already buying it at retail locations all around Alabama. All we want to see is more of that money going to businesses in Alabama instead of businesses in Colorado, California, or Munich. We want the Alabama brewing industry to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. To do that, we need the Brewery Modernization Act.

That said, “demand” plays a big role.  If a brewery hears from customers in a particular state asking for their products, they are more likely to put that state at the top of their list for places to expand distribution.  At this point I could ask you to contact your favorite brewery and tell them you’d like to buy their beer in Alabama.  And of course you should do that if you want to.

But we can have more of an impact if we get a lot of calls and emails to a brewery or two in one big wave.  Over time we can contact several of the country’s finest breweries and encourage them to come to Alabama.  Let’s start with a couple we know we can have an impact on: Dogfish Head and Goose Island.  Both are fantastic world class breweries with tons of good beer available in bottles that fall within our container limit.

DFH told one of our members that we should email their VP of Sales, Adam Lambert to express our desire to buy their beers in Alabama.  His email is Adam[at]dogfish[dot]com.

And Goose Island has an agreement with the A-B distribution network so Birmingham Budweiser has informed us there’s a good chance they could get GI here if we email or call the brewery letting them know we’d love to have them in Alabama.  Their phone number is (312) 226.1119 and email is info[at]gooseisland[dot]com.

So let’s get going with round one of Operation Get New Breweries Into Alabama.