GA breweries and the laws that keep them down

I'm just seeing this thread for the first time, but just coming back from a week in Portland, I'm fired up to put some effort in this. The scene there is incredible. I'm a freelance person so sometimes, I have a lot of time I could devote. Lee, i'm in the pub a few days a week, I'll try to grab you next time I see you and get an update. Did the first meeting occur?

 

To my knowledge there has not been a meeting yet.

Would enough people be at an upcoming beer fest to meet up? What about the Decatur Passport Pub Crawl? There will be multiple groups and one could be a "GWCB" where names and contact info could be gotten and ideas thrown out as the beer flows.

 

I've not checked these forums in far too long. Is there a group that I can get involved in here?

 

I'm down near Valdosta and would love to have a part in this. I realize my location isn't the most effective but I have a great desire to start a brewpub down here. Colorado spoiled me when it came to taking a half-gallon of my favorite ale home after dinner at a brewery.

 

I'm interested in getting involved with this, I don't have a whole lot of time but would like to get involved.. not sure what is happening now..

 

Let's do this thing! Interested in helping out the effort. Let me rephrase that, I'm broke like the rest of you, over worked like the rest of you, and I love beer like the rest of you. Oh, and I'm in GA. I'm willing to give of my limited time and money. That should turn a head or two.

 

It's a new year, anyone still want to talk about this?

 

I think a lot of people would like to discuss it. However, I think that trying to get all the interested parties together to attempt to discuss it is likely never going to happen. If we did, it would likely become more talking about the beers we were drinking than the possible issues we want changed. Maybe an online message board specifically for the purpose would help allow everyone to get in on the conversation. The local beer people are too splintered between this forum, the RB forum, beer-talk, facebook, etc...

Just my 2 cents.

 

As an outsider looking in, I would propose a different list of priorities for you. First of all, far and away the most significant thing you could hope for is unlimited, on site taproom sales for production breweries. This is the single most important factor for the many new breweries that have opened up down here in Florida in the last few years. A new brewery can start to be viable making just a few hundred barrels a year when it has a busy taproom, but without one you really need to be making 2-3k bbl per year to make ends meet. This difference is crucial because it means that a taproom drastically lowers the investment needed to open a viable brewery.

Raising the alcohol cap would be nice, but it isn't going to get you any new breweries and really not that many new beer.

Self distribution is pretty much a pipe dream. This is what the distributors will push back hardest against, and realistically most breweries, even in states where this is allowed, end up using a distributor sooner rather than later because self distribution demands a lot of resources if you a doing much more than selling to the bar across the street from you brewery.

Growlers are nice, but again, they are almost meaningless compared to the impact you would see from breweries being able to sell a pint in their taproom.

 

Well, NC got these major craft brewers also because of the local recreational opportunities (especially in the case of Oskar blues) and the excellent water supply. In any case, I'm completely on board with helping to change GA law.

 

I bet you a beer the middle men try to baby seal club that as hard/if not harder than self distribution. As you mentioned, the costs are going to limit who can attempt that, so naturally the best target is one that lets all the producers sell some that doesn't pass through their grubby fingers.

No, being in SC doesn't color my thinking. /eye roll

 

As of right now the GADA, Total Wine, and a few grocery stores are fighting to get in store tasting to pass this year. If this happens growler stores and liquor stores combined will be able to have samples inside the store during operating hours.
Just a bit of an update on new stuff.

 

I thought Pennsylvania's laws were bad, but Georgia takes the cake.

 

So ... First, I would love to do anything I can to help with this effort.

Second,
Not sure if it is okay to "advertise" this on this forum or not but I am working on a project that might be able to help in some way. I have been working on building up atlantabeergeek.com mainly for a weekly podcast that I am launching in February, interviewing local beer industry folk, but also in hopes to better unite the local beer community. I am putting final touches on the forum this week and will release it for public sign up on Thursday, the 17th. I will send a tweet out about it @AtlantaBeerGeek when it's available. You can go check out the site now but it isn't much yet. I will get it more in working order this week.

Hope I can help,
Cheers!
Brodie

 

i recently heard the GA craft brewers guild was pushing for limited on site sales. I was told 228oz per person, per day is what they're proposing for the new law with relatively good traction. Anyone heard more information on this or know how we can support?

 

What do you mean "on site sales"? At breweries or at bars? You can't buy beer at the breweries here if that's what you mean.

 

on site sales at the brewery. i live in ga and realize that breweries can't sell on premise, hence the new law proposal. I was told it'd be for off premise consumption only with no change to current on premise regulations.

 

Sorry I misread that. I thought you were saying they were going to start limiting what you able to buy not that they were fighting to start allowing. I hope that's true and it passes.

 

No worries, I wrote it half heartedly and could have worded it better.

It most certainly would be a great beginning that could really spark a new wave of business practices and opportunities for large and small breweries alike. I'm hoping to learn more and find out the validity of this proposal so I can figure out how I can help. Anyone else heard anything else about it?