Alabamians For Specialty Beer

Free the Hops’ Fall FestivALE

By Gabe Harris | Published: October 18, 2011

 

FINALLY!

Something to fill your beer festival void until Magic City Brewfest returns!

Free the Hops presents the inaugural Fall FestivALE on November 11, 2011 at Old Car Heaven from 7-11pm. The Fall FestivALE will feature seasonal, unique and rare beers from breweries such as Good People, Avondale, Back Forty, Terrapin, Blue Pants, Lazy Magnolia, Sweetwater, Straight to Ale, Yazoo, Thomas Creek, and Yellowhammer. Limited quantities of some beers are being brewed or sent to Birmingham exclusively for this event!

There will also be a special appearance from brewing icon Adam Avery of Avery Brewing who can be counted on to bring a surprise for your drinking pleasure.

Other brewers who will be in attendance include Keith Yager from Yellowhammer Brewing and Dan Perry from Straight to Ale.

Founder’s Brewing will be making their Free the Hops’ event debut as well!

Keep an eye on this blog and twitter @freethehops for news and updates on Fall FestivALE.  To whet your appetite some of the beers include Back Forty Kudzu Porter, Yellowhammer Brown Bomber, Sweetwater Ghoulash, and Thomas Creek Dirty Monk Belgian Porter.

Food will be provided by The J.Clyde and will be sold by the plate if you get a little hungry that night.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Get your tickets now for this exclusive beer festival as some of the beers will be limited in quantity and availability in the Birmingham area.  Tickets can be purchased through the Fall FestivAle website or Ticket Alternative.  Included in the ticket price are six pours with your commemorative tasting glass.  Additional pours are $1 each.

Old Car Heaven
115 35th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35222

*beer list subject to change (but hopefully not)

Posted in Birmingham, Brewfests | Comments closed

Free the Hops at Stokin’ the Fire

By Gabe Harris | Published: August 17, 2011

 

Free the Hops will have its 3rd cook team at the Stokin’ the Fire BBQ competition at Sloss Furnaces this weekend.  We finished top 10 in two categories last year (burgers & butt) and we plan on winning a trophy this year!  Come out and support us on Friday and Saturday, your support and votes will help us in the People’s Choice competition.

This is Sloss Furnaces’ biggest fundraiser of the year so come out and support the home of Magic City Brewfest because Sloss is so good to us.  All money raised from our team will be donated to Sloss Furnaces!

Tickets to Friday’s session are $5 and Saturday’s are $17.  Friday tix can be bought at the gate while Saturday’s can be purchased online in the link above or at the gate.

And you know our team is sponsored by Good People Brewing Company and The J.Clyde!!!

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Huntsville Beer Week Sept. 9-18

By Gabe Harris | Published: August 10, 2011

With a focus on local and regional breweries, Huntsville Beer Week features several events for area residents to experience great beer. The week is not run by any single organization, brewery, distributor, or retailer. Several groups are responsible for the week by planning individual events and promoting the idea. Free the Hops is one such supporting organization. Events are still being organized, so check back. However, the kickoff event is now set.

Organizers knew they wanted one big event to kick things off. Southern HOPSpitality is a festival celebrating southern breweries. All Alabama breweries have signed on, and a growing list of regional craft breweries will also be there. The event also features live music from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. This beer festival will only be about one-third to one-half the size of Rocket City Brewfest, so it’s a good idea to order tickets early. Direct link: http://www.southernhopspitality.com. Tickets are not being handled by a third-party ticketing service like Ticketmaster, so there are no fees when buying online.

Posted in Huntsville | Comments closed

Brewery Modernization is now the law of the land

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 9, 2011

Just got official text message confirmation. Governor Bentley has signed SB192 into law. Tap rooms are now legal. Brewpubs can sell their beer off-site and be located in an economically distressed area. Rejoice!

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Governor Bentley says he will sign SB192

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 9, 2011

Birmingham News: Alabama Governor Robert Bentley plans to sign beer bill into law.

An article in the Birmingham News confirms that Governor Bentley plan on signing SB192. A good read overall.

Posted in news, politics | Comments closed

SB192: Gamechanger

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 8, 2011

Here’s an interesting video from the folks at The Terminal. Shot during the Magic City Brewfest, it features interviews with some of the folks behind Avondale, Back Forty, and Good People, and what passage of the Brewery Modernization Act will mean to them and their businesses. To channel the president of Free the Hops – “It’s the biggest change in Alabama brewing laws since the repeal of prohibition.”

Tomorrow, we expect to hear that the Governor has signed this wonderful legislation into law.

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The Governor and SB192

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 7, 2011

I traveled down to the Magic City Brewfest last weekend. When talking to people there, I noticed a disturbing trend. Apparently we have oversold the idea that it doesn’t matter what the Governor does with SB192.

If he signs it, it becomes law. If he doesn’t sign it by Thursday, it becomes law. If he votoes it, it takes a simple majority to override the Governor’s veto in Alabama, so it will become law. It seems like the Governor has no ability to hurt our bill. In my defense, I was trying to overcome this fear that Governor Bentley was so anti-alcohol that he wouldn’t let any of our bills become law.

So let me go the other direction – Governor Bentley does matter. Thursday is the last day the legislature meets. What if he vetoes it in the final moments of the legislative day and they don’t have time to override the veto? In that case, we’re dead. I don’t think the Governor will do that, so don’t freak out, but he does matter.

He also matters because he’s the Governor, and his choice will send a message about Alabama. We want Governor Bentley to sign this legislation. It’s basically all we’ve been working on since it passed the House. This Governor wants to be known as the “jobs” Governor, and this is a jobs bill.

So please don’t be complacent. Contact the Governor’s office and tell them you support SB192. It’s very simple to do. – if you call, tell the receptionist that you’re calling in support of SB192. She’ll say thank you. If you email or  fax, send a short message about why you think this bill should be signed by the Governor.

Switchboard: (334) 242-7100
Fax: (334) 353-0004
Web Contact Form

Regardless of how you contact, please remember to continue to be polite and respectful as your represent the interests of Free the Hops.

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Thanks to all who helped make Magic City Brewfest a success.

By Gabe Harris | Published: June 7, 2011

 

On behalf of Free the Hops I want to thank all of the volunteers, breweries, distributors, and workers who helped make the 5th Magic City Brewfest a great success.  Thanks to all of our sponsors as well for helping out…J.Clyde, Good People, Back Forty, Straight to Ale, Big Al, Zeekee Interactive, Piggly Wiggly, Pinnacle Imports, and United-Johnson Brothers.

I want to especially thank the volunteers who donate their time and efforts to make it happen. I hope you guys know how important you are to MCBF and FTH. It wouldn’t happen without you.

The J.Clyde is Birmingham’s best friend when it comes to beer and I hope everyone knows how lucky we are to have them in our hometown.  Jerry, Susan, James, and the rest at JC…thank you!!

Steve from Terrapin, Tina from Bell’s, Ben from Cigar City, Kathryn from Lazy Magnolia, Steve from Choc, Dave from Highland, Alejandro from Big Al, and others made the long trip to Birmingham and I can’t thank them enough for that.

Many thanks to everyone at Good People, Straight to Ale, Back Forty, Blue Pants, and Avondale for bringing tons of beer and a lot of help to give Alabama a great beer presence this year.  You guys are helping Alabama so much and I couldn’t be happier to know all of you guys.  Thanks for everything that you do.

Thanks to Grant Thomas and Robbie Yarbrough who do a lot of behind the scenes work and they are a great partner to have at the brewfests.  Sloss Furnaces is an awesome venue to have MCBF and we appreciate them as well.

Kim Thomson at Alabrew really stepped up and helped us when we needed some equipment for our brand new jockey boxes.  Thanks for helping us out of a jam!

The bands also deserve a round of applause for coming out and entertaining us as well.  Skyway Spirits, Jon Vogel & The Southside Community Band, My Lucky Number, and Abandon August did a great job and I really appreciate it.

If I’m leaving off anyone inadvertently, I apologize.  See you guys at Sloss Furnaces next year!

-Gabe

Posted in Birmingham, Brewfests | Comments closed

Deadlines

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 6, 2011

There is some confusion about when the Governor must sign or veto our legislation, and what happens if he does nothing. The Governor has until Thursday to sign or veto SB192. If he does neither by the time the legislature adjourns, it will become law because the bill was passed before the pocket veto was an option.

If you really want the details after counting to six and thinking the deadline should be tomorrow, read on.

The legislature will be in recess tomorrow, so the Alabama Constitution says he gets an extension to the six-day deadline. The extension is for two days after they re-assemble. They reassemble on Thursday.

Now you’re counting to two and thinking the deadline should be Saturday.  However, the legislature will be constitutionally required to adjourn for the year after they meet on Thursday. There’s actually case law about what happens in a situation like this. Basically, the Alabama Supreme Court has said that the Governor has a two day extension or as much time as he can get before the legislature adjourns. So he has to sign or veto SB192 on Thursday, the last legislative day, or it becomes law without his signature.

All of this is academic anyway. The Governor will sign this economic development bill as long as we keep calling and emailing. So keep it up!

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Brewery bills in Texas

By Dan Roberts | Published: June 2, 2011

We don’t normally use this space to talk about beer laws of impact outside of Alabama, but HB602 in the Texas legislature has been interesting to follow this year. The bill is now dead for the year.

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