American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
We’ll the short answer is possibly, and Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot is having none of it.
Here’s the deal….
We recently reported on a Natural Light’s special anniversary 77-packs. What was promoted by Anheuser-Busch as special bulk packs (that’s right, 77 cans of beer) celebrating the low-cost brand’s debut in 1977 has left a bad taste in one Maryland official’s mouth and he’s jumping ugly.
Responding to the bulk-pack that was only released in College Park, a major university town, Maryland’s chief financial officer, Peter Franchot, who is responsible for the taxation and regulation of alcohol in the state, told USA9 that Anheuser-Busch was “obviously promoting binge drinking by young people.”
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot
No friend of Big Beer, Franchot has been an advocate for craft beer. Last November he championed a major legislative package that would have fundamentally reformed the antiquated laws and burdensome regulations that have plagued Maryland’s craft breweries for decades.
Unfortunately Big Beer lobbyists proved influential and that legislation never really saw the light of day but we gotta think that there is no love lost between the two parties…
“The big brewers like Budweiser who are selling 77 cans of beer for .39 cents each to college kids, they don’t like craft brewers, unless they own them,” Franchot told the CBS affiliate.
But Franchot didn’t stop there and went on to tell USA9 that he is “calling for an investigation of his allegations that large brewing companies have corrupted Maryland legislators with questionable campaign contributions and favors.”
Described by The TakeOut as a “regular beer that’s been passed through a Brita filter 10,000 times,” Natural Light has long been a low cost college staple and not surprisingly the celebratory 77-packs, which shipped just prior to University of Maryland’s homecoming weekend, sold out almost immediately…
But given the prominence of Franchot’s comments which quickly went viral, we don’t expect that Anheuser-Busch will be returning their Natural Light 77-packs to College Park, Maryland anytime soon.
