Alpharetta-area residents may soon be able to buy their beer by the glass jug: The City Council this week approved the sale of growlers.
The practice, in which fresh draft beer is poured into a reusable glass jug that’s taken home by the customer, was approved by the council Monday.
“The gist of [the law] is that it allows for the retail sale of growlers by certain establishments licensed for the retail sale of beer and wine,” James Drinkard, assistant city administrator for Alpharetta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview Tuesday.
State law prohibits growler sales in stores that sell distilled spirits or those holding licenses for alcohol consumption on the premises – that is, restaurants and taverns, Drinkard said.
The law would allow such sales in stores “specific to growler and craft beer sales; one of the better known is Ale Yeah! in Decatur,” Drinkard said. No such stores are open in Alpharetta yet, he said, but “there has been interest by a couple of different operators who are interested in locating in the city.”
David Sheets, who hopes to be one of the first to sell growlers in Alpharetta, told the AJC on Tuesday, “We’re definitely excited about it. … It’s neat we’re allowed to do things that have been allowed in Charlotte and other cool places for a long, long time.”
Sheets said he hopes to open his Blind Murphy Craft Beer Market at 53 S. Main St. “in 45 to 60 days, depending on the state. … We signed the lease, and we’re fixing to get the process started for the alcohol license this week.”
Blind Murphy will sell growlers, home brew supplies, glassware, T-shirts and other items, said Sheets, who also is owner of Georgia Hot Tubs. “We’re going to be downtown, so we’ll be the kind of store where when Mom goes to the antique stores, Dad can say, ‘Just pick me up here,’ ” he said.
Dunwoody and Johns Creek also are discussing growler sales. Roswell and Forsyth County already allow them. Growlers also are sold at Whole Foods stores on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta and in the Merchants Walk shopping center in east Cobb County.
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