Senate Bill 85, sponsored by Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee Chairman Rick Jeffares, R-McDonough, represents what Jeffares called a "great compromise" to end a decades-old stand-off between the brewers and the state's beer wholesalers who for years have fought to protect their position as middleman between beer manufacturers and retailers.

The bill allows a consumer to buy up to a case a day directly from a brewery to take home and to buy a beer to drink on site. Brewpubs would also be allowed to sell beer to customers to take home. Finally, the bill ends the complicated tour-system lawmakers adopted in 2015, which allowed brewers to give away their beer to anyone who purchased a brewery tour.

The legislation now goes to the state House. If it passes there, it would go into effect Sept. 1.