If you haven’t seen these pieces about the Gourmet Bottle Bill then check them out…
Suds of the South
Suds of the South III is coming back to Tuscaloosa this weekend, March 10th from 4-7pm at Wilhagans. Hard tickets are available at the Alcove, Wilhagans and Corks & Tops but if you need to buy tickets online then here is the link to do that. It will also give you some more information and specific beers at the festival.
Breweries represented…
Good People (Birmingham)
Back Forty (Gadsden)
Avondale (Birmingham)
Straight to Ale (Huntsville)
Blue Pants (Huntsville)
Yellow hammer (Huntsville)
Terrapin (Athens)
Sweetwater (Atlanta)
Yazoo (Nashville)
Lazy Magnolia (Kiln)
Abita (Abita Springs)
Nola (New Orleans)
Highland (Asheville )
Tallgrass (Manhattan Kansas)
Posted in Brewfests, Local Events, Tuscaloosa Comments closed
FTH on Alabama Public Television Tonight at 10:30pm
The show is called Capitol Journal and will highlight the Gourmet Bottle Bill.
Posted in politics Comments closed
Gourmet Bottle Bill Passes Senate
Senate Bill 294, the Gourmet Bottle Bill, passed the Alabama Senate on Tuesday, February 22nd by a vote of 14-13. We are far from done with GBB though, the next step will move this bill to the House of Representatives. Keep an eye out here, the message board, email and our twitter account for when to start contacting your Representative expressing your support for SB294.
If your Senator voted “yes” for SB294 then be sure to thank them for their support.
Read more about where the GBB stands here.
Find out how your Senator voted here.
Gourmet Bottle Bill on Senate Special Order Calendar Today
The Gourmet Bottle Bill, Senate Bill 294, is on the special order calendar today! The session will start at 5pm.
If you have not contacted your Senator then please do so today. It is very important that they hear from you expressing your support for SB294.
E-mail is good but if you can make a phone call as well, that would be best.
Keep your e-mails and phone calls short, sweet and to the point. Let them know your name, address and reference SB294 in all correspondence.
If you do not know who your Senator is, click here…
Follow the Gourmet Bottle Bill’s Progress
Cheers,
Gabe
Gourmet Bottle Bill Update
There is a chance that the Gourmet Bottle Bill, Senate Bill 294, will be on the special order calendar tomorrow. Please contact your Senator as soon as possible expressing your support for SB294. E-mail is good but if you can make a phone call as well, that would be best.
Keep your e-mails and phone calls short, sweet and to the point. Let them know your name, address and reference SB294 in all correspondence.
If you do not know who your Senator is, click here…
Follow the Gourmet Bottle Bill’s Progress
Cheers,
Gabe
HB354 – The Alabama Homebrewing Legalization Bill Update
I received the following email from Right to Brew last night…
We are excited to report that House bill HB354 was filed today to legalize Homebrewing in Alabama. With your help, it will pass into law, and cause Alabama to finally join the 48 other states that have already legalized homebrewing. The bill has taken its first step by being assigned to the Economic Development and Tourism Committee, where it now waits for its turn.
It is not too early to call and write your Alabama House representative to ask for his or her support for HB354, the Homebrewing Legalization Bill. We were defeated last year because not enough people voiced their support to their legislators to convince them to vote YES. We must do better this year!
More information will be sent when we receive it. Be sure to keep an eye on http://www.alahomebrewing.org/ for news and updates. Pass this to any of your friends who may be interested. Thank you for your support!
Gourmet Bottle Bill Passes Senate Committee
The Gourmet Bottle Bill, or SB294, has passed the Senate Small Business committee and received a second reading on the floor of the Senate. In addition, the GBB has had its first reading on the floor of the House as HB264. Read more about the legislative steps here.
If you have not contacted your representative expressing your support yet please consider doing so. If you do not know who your representatives are, click here.
Montgomery Assigns Numbers to Gourmet Bottle Bill
The House of Representatives has given the Gourmet Bottle Bill “HB264″ while the Senate has given the bill “SB294″.
The House sponsors are Jim Barton, Chad Fincher, Jamie Ison and David Sessions.
The Senate sponsor is Paul Sanford.
Free the Hops 2012 Legislative Session Update
Tuesday, February 7th, the 2012 regular session of the Alabama
Legislature will begin at 12pm. A Regular Session may consist of no
more than 30 Legislative Days within the framework of a 105-calendar
day period according to the Legislature’s home page.
Last year’s session convened March 1, 2011, and adjourned June 9,
2011 to give you a timeframe for this year’s session. Keep an eye on
the Legislature’s home page for live video, audio, bill status updates
and more.
If you do not know who your state representatives are then go to this
page on Free the Hops’ website which will also give you the voting history
on previous Free the Hops bills as well. Free the Hops will notify you
via email(s) when legislators need to be contacted politely expressing
your support of the “Gourmet Bottle Bill”.
The Gourmet Bottle Bill (“GBB”) or container size restriction is the
legislation that Free the Hops will propose in the 2012 Legislative
Session. Alabama is the only state that restricts single containers of
beer to 16 ounces or less. The GBB seeks to remove the restriction
that prevents Alabamians from purchasing, for example, 22oz and 750ml
bottles which many craft breweries currently package in. Wine is also
packaged in 750ml bottles and Free the Hops wants to eliminate the
distinction between wine and beer when it comes to container size.
A whole range of beers are excluded by this law. For example, Rogue
Ales sells a number of their beers in these two sizes only. Likewise,
Terrapin Brewing in Athens, GA, sells their popular special release
series called “Side Project” in 22 oz bottles only. Many Belgian
breweries such as St. Bernardus package many of their beers in 750ml
corked and caged bottles. These breweries distribute their beers in
Alabama, but they are unable to distribute their full line of beers
due to the container size restriction. Other examples of craft
breweries which will not consider sending any of their beers to
Alabama until the container size restriction is lifted include Dogfish
Head, Stone, New Belgium and Firestone Walker.
Alabama’s own Good People Brewing Company packaged a series of beers
called “County Line” in 22oz bottles but were unable to sell them in
Jefferson County where they are located, instead having to send them
to one county that does allow the sale of 22oz bottles.
We have all seen how the state’s economy has benefited from the
Gourmet Beer Bill and the Brewery Modernization Act. This bill will
impact the state in much the same way as Free the Hops’ two previous
successful bills.
For more information regarding the Gourmet Bottle Bill please visit
Free the Hops’ restriction page.
Alabama Homebrewing Legalization
Although Free the Hops is not directly involved, we will also update
you on the progress of a bill to legalize home brewing in our state.
Alabama and Mississippi are the only two states in the country that
make brewing beer at home a crime. Please visit Alabama Homebrewing:
Right to Brew for more information and to lend your support.
Birmingham’s Two Breweries Ask the University of Alabama to Stop the
Shepherd Bend Mine
Please visit this link to read the Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s
statement on the Shepherd Bend Mine including statements by Avondale
Brewing and Good People Brewing.