American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
It’s no secret that archaic state liquor laws combined with powerful Big Beer and wholesale lobbies can sometimes hinder craft beer growth opportunities.
The long entrenched three tier distribution system is understandably threatened by craft brewers now allowed to sell directly to consumers via their taprooms and to self-distribute in many states.
The bar and restaurant industry that used to own the on-premise biz has increased its opposition to brewery tasting room growth as well.
And after years of continuing sales declines Big Beer is as desperate as the wholesalers and the bar and restaurant industry….And these forces all work with powerful lobbying organizations to influence politicians and help counter state proposals that might favor craft brewers, who in spite of slowing momentum continue to prosper and grow.
It’s can be a legal range war…with some recent wins for craft beer…and some losses.
In Colorado, it’s both big wins with some losses….
On January 1, Colorado effectively put an end to its longstanding 3.2 beer law, a Prohibition-era relic that prevented most grocery and convenience stores from selling full-strength beer. And that bill came with additional changes… including a booze delivery law.
That booze-delivery law was intended to benefit local beer sellers and “to stop Amazon from taking over the local liquor-delivery market,” reports the Denver Channel.
But according to Reason businesses such as Denver’s Craft Alley, a craft beer “direct from the brewery to the consumer” delivery service could be hurt by the new law “because it requires sellers to get at least half their revenue from a brick-and-mortar location.”
Good news and bad news in Utah as well…
It’s good news that after years of debate and considerable opposition by the state’s prominent Mormon community, the Utah Senate finally passed a bill which “raises the allowable alcohol content for beer on store shelves from 3.2 percent by weight to 4 percent.”
According to the Deseret News “The House overwhelmingly approved SB132 last Wednesday and it no goes to governor.
But the bad news is that that 4% ABW cap (which was lowered from a previous proposal of 4.8%) is thought to favor big beer producers like Anheuser-Busch who brew more beer in that lower alcohol range, than craft brewers whose beers tend skew higher.
And as Utah Brewer’s Guild’s executive director Nicole Dicou, told Fox 13 “that the bill did not go far enough and favored big beer mass marketers over smaller craft brewers.”
