GA breweries and the laws that keep them down

I think a good starting point would be to piggy back off what has been changed. The growler laws, and the raising to 14%.

Why was it stopped at 14%?

I've noticed alot of local jurisdictions having votes on allowing growler fills in places. I think they see the growth in the market, as alot of growler shops are expanding out, after only being able to do so for a little over a year now. In this economy, the fact that a niche market like that is expanding so quickly, has to have local governments and business sitting back enjoying the growth of commerce, but also tax flow inwards.

Pointing out how a small town like Asheville, has attracted massive beer business, is a great way to show what we're being left out of. As a massive blip on the radar, the Atlanta area mostly, could be a driving force in southern expansion of craft beer. Atlanta and Georgia as a whole has embraced the movie industry in the last few years, and has a seen a massive boom in movie production in the state. I think they'd be interested in a longer term business, IMO.

 

So what are the things we actually want?

• ABV cap raised/removed
• Bottle & Growler sales from brewpubs/breweries
• Limited self-distribution (up to a certain limit)

I think good angles would be to:

• Show the massive expansion in craft beer, even though the beer market at large has stagnated/regressed.
• Show the economic boon that beer-friendly places like Asheville are experiencing
• Highlight liberal beer laws in other Southern states. For whatever reason, lawmakers tend to view the antiquated southern laws as "virtuous" and needing of protection. If we can show the liberal beer laws in other Southern states, and that it hasn't compromised their good ol' Southern-ness, then I think that would help alleviate lawmaker's fears that Southern princples are being compromised. May also be useful to highlight all of the monastic breweries in Belgium, etc., to combat the natural fundamentalist puritanical push-back to any liberalization of "sin" laws.
• Play up the tourism angle. Atlanta is the major hub of the southeast, and people are willing to travel for beer events -- brewery-only releases, festivals, beers they just can't get at home, etc. For example, thousands of people show up for Foothill's Sexual Chocolate release and Cigar City's Hunahpu release -- people fly and drive in from all over the country. If Atlanta starts to nurture its burgeoning beer culture instead of suppressing it, it'll just make Atlanta into a destination for beer lovers. After all, people from all around the southeast tend to visit Atlanta anyway -- whether it's a layover at Hartsfield before catching a connecting flight, coming into town for a Braves' game, business event, etc. This'll just give them another reason to venture into the city/surrounding suburbs and spend money.

 

I think this is a good start for a list and has some well thought out ideas. I would add to this on-site sales for breweries. I think one thing that would really help expand the local brewery scene is making the distinction of a brewpub and brewery unnecessary from a law standpoint. I'm not sure the extent of laws that are holding breweries back from this. I would assume there are at least a few.

 

Also, if someone could get the numbers on A) how many jobs and B) how much money the recent Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, etc. expansions are pumping into Asheville, I think that'd be very persuasive data.

 

Georgians for World Class Beer is the group that raised the ABV and most currently had an attempt at reforming in 2011. There was one meeting with quite a good attendance but after that John and I did not get another organized. I could give excuses but really that is just life.

We did accomplish getting accounts for Gmail [email protected], Twitter @GWCBeer and Facebook the group - Georgians for World Class Beer and had cards made. A specific group for Sunday Sales did the leg work on that but I was there for the last bit of it. GWCB was interviewed for a local news report the day of the rally.

GWCB also made contact with the GA Brewer's Guild which is small but has been working on changing the laws. We don't want to be on the other side of the rope in a tug-a-war. We both want what's best for our beer community. That being said we decided that being a separate group instead of a faction of the guild would be best. There are directions we can go in to achieve our goals as consumers that are different then a professional trying to run a business can.

In all honesty all those "WEs" is really just me, Jennifer O'Connell/Hoptrollop with help from my husband John. So things quickly grew stagnate and nothing else has been accomplished. Sad but true.

GWCB can move forward with some fresh vim & vigor and a lot of help. An August get together would be great and if at all possible an event during Atlanta Beer Week could be organized.

 

It's nice to know after so many months not posting on here I still have the power to kill a thread.

Is it because I'm a girl?

 

Maybe a meeting in order, to toss some ideas, and whatnot?

Obviously the channels are there to get it to the right people to promote a change, but maybe getting a cohesive list of ideas, or objectives that are easy to tackle.

The whole issue with wine allowing to run free, yet beer is limited is pretty silly.

I also know that there has been a minor boom in distilling in the state and they were really limited in what they could do. No tasting, and such.. If I recall, they are going to be allowed to do tastings, to help with selling their spirits. If it's possible for them, why does beer need to be left to antiquated laws?

 

According to a chart posted in the General section, Georgia apparently has the 3rd highest beer taxes too. That one's got me a bit perplexed, though, since it's been my observation that we have some of the best beer prices in the nation.

 

I have always wondered if that is somehow just on kegs and not bottles. I know that sounds crazy, but the bar and growler pricing here sucks while the bottle prices are almost always cheaper than anywhere else. I do not know how else it could be true.

 

I think it's actually just straight across the board, no matter the vehicle that it's delivered to the public in.

I just think the whole growler stuff here is still a hot ticket item, the new businesses getting into it are tossing their ham fists into the pile while the gettin' is good!

 

Even if you ignore the growler pricing, our bar pricing is absolutely insane. Most areas of the country you can get craft pints (at least locals) for what we have to pay for PBR or Bud here. I do not think I have been in a bar in NC without some sort of $4 local craft pint option. Even our brewpubs do not seem to have prices that low.

To avoid lumping everyone together, I have to point out the the Brick Store's pricing seems so much more reasonable than other places here.

 

No wonder they are busy every day of the week.

There have been times that I've been at bsp and wondering if they realize what a good deal they have on one beer or another. Then I look around and see them three deep at the bar on a Monday night while other places with premium pricing will have three people at the bar on a Saturday night.

 

Stephanie Stuckey Benfield tried replacing the word wine with the word beer for years and said it was never that simple. If you look at the GA law books beer, wine and distilled alcohol all have separate sections "and near the twain shall meet." (Unless of course it helps the teetotalers ie homebrewing=distilling moonshine grumblegrumble) GA also has the bad habit of interrupting law in a "if it's not written to be legal than it must be illegal." Add in the fact that anything new needs to be taxed and determining how and who will be taking care of that brings everything to a stop. The DoR wants the money but who ever wants to add to their workload? Was it SweetWater that got a big tax bill on the beer drunk on the tours or special events?

The more you know the more frustrating it all is. This is one reason I thing GWCB getting behind 1 idea to work on at a time may be the best practice.

 

I came from a place with 500 bottles,high prices and slow turnover. I purposely price my bottles below the traditional bar markup and keep close to ten bottles under 4 dollars for regulars,students etc. I stock a lot of bottles and things bill out frequently so the menus can be hard to keep up with at times. Personally when i go out drinking at beer bars i drink draft but bars with less impressive draft lists i usually look hard at the bottle list.

 

I had a very good conversation about this topic the other day. We should get together see how we want to re write the law, hire a lawyer to re write it (that few thousand dollars i referred too), then start a grass roots effort thru social media to get people behind it. I thought that was pretty good advice for trying to do this without throwing a bunch of money and personal time at it.

 

Do you think a comprehensive rewrite is the right way to go? It seems like, in this state especially, it's easier to pick one thing and fight for it (i.e. ABV limits, container limits in Alabama, etc..).

I can make phone calls and write letters with the best of them, so just tell me when and where and I'll be there to help.