Senate Bill 63 or the “Beer Jobs Bill,” as passed by the Georgia Legislature and signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, is a great example of over-regulation seeking a problem. Not what you would expect out of a Republican-controlled General Assembly.
The bill as originally introduced sought to allow brewers to sell limited amounts of beer directly from breweries, a setting and context that cannot be duplicated in the established retail market. It also would have given brewpubs — restaurants that make their own beer — the ability to sell limited amounts of beer to go.
As first introduced, the Beer Jobs Bill would have provided Georgia’s homegrown breweries with at least some of the retail rights breweries in 46 other states and Georgia’s wineries already enjoy. Under current brewery rules in effect for the past decade, you can purchase an empty pint glass when you visit a brewery, and the brewer can then give you up to 32 ounces of free beer to consume on the premises.
We had a great opportunity in the last legislative session to fix this contrived system and pass common-sense beer legislation that treats our brewers and consumers as intelligent adults. But the new legislation doubles down on the current regulatory absurdity.
Under the new law effective July 1, brewery visitors will instead purchase a brewery tour during which they can consume up to 36 ounces of free beer; then, they can pick up another 72 ounces as a free souvenir to take home. SB 63 bends over backwards and contorts itself a few times, all in an effort to avoid any perception a brewer is “selling” beer directly to a consumer.
Another frustrating development to come out of the new legislation is the failure to provide meaningful reform of the regulations impacting our state’s brewpubs.
In the last legislative session, Tesla, an electric car manufacturer, won the right to sell cars directly to the public instead of through a dealership. Imagine if the General Assembly had ventured to fix the Tesla problem not by allowing direct sales, but instead by allowing Tesla to sell $80,000 ball caps that come with a free car. It would be flatly absurd; but this is the type of transaction Georgia’s brewers, distillers and their consumers are restricted to.
Allowing willing consumers to take a six-pack home with them is, without doubt, a marked improvement for Georgia’s breweries. For the first time, patrons can take beer home from a brewery and share it — and their brewery experience — with other potential consumers. Certainly, breweries will be able to increase revenues and reach more consumers under the new law. But SB 63 stops short of providing the smart deregulation the original version intended.
The practical result of the structure established by the bill is to impair and retard any sort of direct commercial relationship between a brewery and the consumer – precisely what the opponents of the Beer Jobs Bill intended. Georgia wineries are permitted to sell Georgia-made wine to consumers, so why shouldn’t our breweries be permitted to sell a small amount of Georgia-made beer to a brewery visitor or brewpub patron?
No credible person can claim our antiquated brewery laws were designed for the current craft beer market, which has exploded over the past several decades. There are now almost 40 breweries in the state, as compared to a single brewery in 1980. Even with such impressive growth, Georgia lags behind other states in breweries per capita. Yet our political system resists meaningful reform, all for fear of alienating the richest and most powerful political lobbies in our state.
Both the Retail Alcohol Dealers Association and the Georgia Beer Wholesalers Association fought SB 63 to protect their businesses from a misperceived potential rise in new competition. But the legislation was never a threat to those businesses, as the success of the booming craft beer industries in other states assures us.
The craft brewers of Georgia found many supporters in the General Assembly, the most impressive being Sen. Hunter Hill. This first attempt at meaningful reform passed with tremendous margins in both chambers, indicating manyin our political system are ready for change.
The limited, direct sale contemplated by the original Beer Jobs Bill is a simple form of commerce. It’s a basic transaction between a craftsman and a willing, intelligent consumer. Perhaps in the future, with continued help from political leadership that stands up for small business, free markets and small government, the craft brewers of Georgia can create the craft beer industry and jobs our consumers clearly support.
Nancy Palmer is the executive director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. Brooks W. Binder is an Atlanta lawyer representing small- and medium-sized privately held businesses.
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