GA breweries and the laws that keep them down

But they just passed a law to "help" home brewers that has led to the cancellation of several homebrew contests. The genius folks we have in state government decided that all local governments had to pass specific rules to allow them. That has worked well.

 

GatorBeerNerd - Thank you for the clarification! That makes sense on number 7, as I haven't seen liquor outside of a liquor store. I do like the growler fill shops, Lazy Dog down in Warner Robins gets some local GA stuff I don't see in Macon.

In regards to happy hours, is it possible that is a county or city law? I won't name any names, but they're common enough in Macon that it feels like they're legal.

Anything weird going on with homebrewing outside of a capacity / production limit? I'm a homebrewer and I've seen homebrew shops and homebrew supplies for sale in liquor stores, so I assume everything is ok there.

Also, can I buy kegs anywhere? I have a kegerator which I usually keep homebrew on, but it's nice to grab a keg of something local every once in awhile.

 

It is a state law, but when I looked it up, it does appear that it is up to local governments for regulation. That might be the first plus I have ever seen for Macon

Others can better answer the homebrew question, but the HB99 thing that was mentioned above that affects contests was the biggest thing. It also seems to have ramifications on traveling with homebrew but I won't even act like I understand what all is going on with that bill that made things worse.

You should be able to buy kegs at any place that sells beer if they want to deal with ordering you a keg. They have to go through 3 tiers just like bottles.

 

Oh trust me, I've already realized how lacking the beer scene is here! On the upside, I've found a couple good bottle shops, and one offered (unprovoked) to order anything they can get if I ask for it. Bottles certainly seem to be more common than taps for craft, but there are a handful of quality establishments within walking distance. No one has opened a BSP yet, though...

On a whole, beer is noticeably cheaper here than it was in Indy. Craft bottles typically run 3-4 at bars and craft taps are usually 4-6. I've been up to Atlanta a couple of times but haven't been over to Decatur yet. Randomly went to Wrecking Bar and was hugely impressed with their food, cocktails and beer.

 

You went from one of the most expensive states for bottled beer to one of the cheapest. Our bar prices, with the exception of a few places are pretty awful though.

 

Anything ever come of this? I am a lawyer and can dedicate a little time to some drafting and very minor lobbying.

 

Believe it or not, the GA Legislators were swayed again by the distributors. They are kinda like the mob the way they own politicians. Meanwhile, South Carolina is in the process of updating their laws again in an effort to attract larger brewers like Stone.

We do have it a little better than Florida. Just do some searches about what is going on there. If you want to sell your product to the public from the brewery, you have to pay a distributor. That's right, the distributor does not ever set foot on your property or even take possession of your product. But you still have to pay them to "buy" your product back so you can sell it. They are also having some sort of fight over growlers too.

If our obtuse GA Legislators aren't enough for you, read about the FDA. They are now considering banning the use of spent brewery grains as farm animal feed. I'm sure the good folks from BMC probably have something to do with that one.

 

If Georgia is anything like North Carolina the Beer/Wine Distributors are the largest $$$ giving PAC in the state (of NC). And it is like only 6 distributors across the state, but they were smart and loosened NC laws with regard to distribution, ABV, ease of licensure of Breweries, etc... because they know, if a brewery is good enough, they get big enough, then they can't handle distribution on their own and will have to turn to distributor channels and then they win.

or

They win because sometimes folks will order a different beer even when presented with a bountiful selection of craft brews. Sat at my favorite watering hole the other night with a terrific selection of craft brews and I watched the Bar tender open up a PBR out of the bottle. I just shook my head, bartender laughed at me and shrugged.

Hope it gets sorted out for Georgia.