Gourmet Beer Bill passes the Senate!

[kickinwang 0]

link

Senate passes Free the Hops bill; higher-alcohol beer could be on the way

Posted by Brian Lyman, Capitol Bureau May 14, 2009 2:51 PM

Categories: Breaking News

MONTGOMERY -- The state Senate today passed a bill allowing the sale of gourmet beers in Alabama.

The legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, allows the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 13.9 percent by volume. Previously the limit was five percent by volume.

The bill passed the Senate 22-9 and now goes to the governor. If signed, retailers would be allowed the sale of certain gourmet and imported beers in Alabama. Free the Hops, an organization which lobbied for the bill, says the beverages cost an average of $5 to $6 a bottle.

The bill came up for consideration earlier in the session but was filibustered by state Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, who cited his personal opposition to alcohol consumption in blocking the legislation. Erwin was not in the Senate chamber for Thursday's vote; however, the Senate approved the bill by using a previous vote total. Erwin was on that roll as voting aye

one more step....

[OldNewby 27]

the beverages cost an average of $5 to $6 a bottle

Yeah, now they pass it when people are scratching for bucks.

For freedom's sake I'm happy the bill passed. For me, my 50¢ a beer brand will do me fine. It will be nice for folks who like something special while eating out, but I only drink at home. Maybe, I'll splurge for some my next BD.

[bellefay1 1]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I'm not sure how much of it I will even drink. I'm just glad our government is infringing on one less of our personal freedoms.

They've got no business telling me what I can and cannot drink.

[Nay4AU 2]

I'm not sure how much of it I will even drink. I'm just glad our government is infringing on one less of our personal freedoms.

They've got no business telling me what I can and cannot drink.

I probably won’t drink any of it either. I too am against the government infringement. If alcohol is legal I don’t understand all the limitations put on beer. Marshall County is still a dry county but it now has 3 wet cities. (Guntersville, Albertville, and Arab) Albertville and Guntersville recently passed a resolution to allow draft beer sales in restaurants. Guntersville was the only wet city for a long time (around 1984) but Albertville joined them a few years ago, and Arab back in the fall. The House has already passed the bill and from what I understand the only thing holding it back now is the Governor’s signature. I don’t understand why if beer is legal to sale in a town why special consideration is need to sale draft beer. I’m not much of a beer guy but is there any difference in the two to warrant the distinction.

[rexbo 104]

I love good quality beer and cannot stomach any of the watered down mass market beers; but the term 'gourmet beer' seems like an oxymoron...

[TitanTiger 20,542]

I'm not sure how much of it I will even drink. I'm just glad our government is infringing on one less of our personal freedoms.

They've got no business telling me what I can and cannot drink.

Man, I'm stoked. There are so many great beers out there that I could get in Tennessee or if I was traveling elsewhere that you just couldn't get here. Love that they slid it through when Hank Erwin wasn't in the chamber.

C'mon Gov. Riley. Sign that bill!

[CCTAU 3,355]

You are all going to hell for drank'in that foreign alkyhall.

[AUBURNJAC 53]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

For sure modest with the $5-6 es timate! Same here in Nashville! Most of the places that carry those kinds of beers are not your average brew pubs. Those beers run anywhere between $10 and $15 a beer here. Outside of a couple of places in Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham and maybe one or two places in Huntsville, I don't know where you will even be able to order one of those beers. For those of you who haven't ever drank one, they are not the type of beer you would buy to drink while your grilling or on the lake. Those are city beers!

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

I live about a mile from the Brickstore and I have become an absolute beer snob because of that place. You can get plenty of good beers there for around $5-6. The ones that are $10+ are usually pretty small batches and/or 750 ml bottles. Here's there menu and you can find the prices on the draught and bottle links on the right - http://www.brickstorepub.com/home/

But anyway, good for Alabama. Slowly moving into this century.

[bellefay1 1]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

I live about a mile from the Brickstore and I have become an absolute beer snob because of that place. You can get plenty of good beers there for around $5-6. The ones that are $10+ are usually pretty small batches and/or 750 ml bottles. Here's there menu and you can find the prices on the draught and bottle links on the right - http://www.brickstorepub.com/home/

But anyway, good for Alabama. Slowly moving into this century.

My favorite thing about Brick Store. I didn't check my e-mail till late but the head guy at Stone Brewing was there last night with a couple random cask for whoever was around.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

I live about a mile from the Brickstore and I have become an absolute beer snob because of that place. You can get plenty of good beers there for around $5-6. The ones that are $10+ are usually pretty small batches and/or 750 ml bottles. Here's there menu and you can find the prices on the draught and bottle links on the right - http://www.brickstorepub.com/home/

But anyway, good for Alabama. Slowly moving into this century.

My favorite thing about Brick Store. I didn't check my e-mail till late but the head guy at Stone Brewing was there last night with a couple random cask for whoever was around.

I still want to do one of those dinners they have with the beer pairings.

You sound like your in the area. Have you checked out Leons yet? Same owners and right down the street. Two thumbs up.

[TitanTiger 20,542]

There's a whole host of $12-15 per six pack beers that we haven't been able to get here that will be available now, not just the outrageously expensive ones you guys are talking about. Hopefully it will spur some more small beer stores that cater to this clientele like we had back in TN to start opening up.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

There's a whole host of $12-15 per six pack beers that we haven't been able to get here that will be available now, not just the outrageously expensive ones you guys are talking about. Hopefully it will spur some more small beer stores that cater to this clientele like we had back in TN to start opening up.

Oh, definitely. The beers I'm talking about are ones you buy at a bar, which are obviously marked up much more than anything you'll get a liquor store. There's such a good selection at some of the bigger liquor stores here in Atlanta.

I've even got a friend who's an Auburn grad who's already got the distribution set up for several higher % beers to be sold in Bham. He's just been waiting for this bill to pass. The label is "Back 40" and there's a pale ale called Naked Pig. I can't remember what the others are called.

[DKW 86 7,481]

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/14/business...lic%20Beverages

ADVERTISING; Schlitz to Challenge Michelob's Taste

By PHILIP H. DOUGHERTY

Published: January 14, 1981

For its next contest of taste preference, the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company is going to take on Anheuser-Busch's Michelob, America's best-selling super-premium beer.

And it will do it on Jan. 25 during the Super Bowl telecast on which some advertisers are paying as much as $275,000 for 30 seconds.

The series of one-minute live contests each featuring 100 beer drinkers who favor one of Schlitz's competitors will probably turn out to be the most controversial commercials of the year. They are already causing controversy over the validity of the taste test methodology and the wisdom of Schlitz, a troubled brewer, using any test in which its beer could turn out only 37 percent preferred, as it did last Sunday, when Miller Beer drinkers were used. The week before, again with Miller drinkers, Schlitz got 38 percent preferred, and on the two previous Sundays against Budweiser, Schlitz scored a 46 percent preferred in the first contest and had a tie in the second. Should it have quit when it was ahead? J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, is the agency.

Excuse me here, but I am not convinced that most American males could tell the difference between any two beers. The premise for these tests is just that. Beer drinkers can tell the difference between say a pilsner and a lager, lite and full body, etc. But beer brand to beer brand, it has been shown in many tests that the large majority of American beer drinkers just cant do it, no matter what they think themselves.

BTW< if you have ever read "Inside the Millionaire Mind:" or 'The Millionaire Next Door" you would know that wealthy in this country do not waste a dime on stuff like this. The money quote was that they drink: "Bud or Free."

[TitanTiger 20,542]

Everyone has some small indulgence at some level. Even millionaires. I'll put my frugality up against just about anyone. But I like good beer and regardless of what these knuckledraggers think, there is a distinct difference in Bud and even Sam Adams (both are lagers, btw).

[DKW 86 7,481]

Everyone has some small indulgence at some level. Even millionaires. I'll put my frugality up against just about anyone. But I like good beer and regardless of what these knuckledraggers think, there is a distinct difference in Bud and even Sam Adams (both are lagers, btw).

I said MOST.

[bellefay1 1]

Congrats Alabama beer drinkers. The state of Georgia will miss the large amount of money y'all have spent here over the years on beer your state felt that if you could purchase, you would go out and run over blind children.

I hope the bill passes but I also hope your alcohol distributors are able to get some good brews for y'all to enjoy. It took Georgia a few years to get the market of craft brews saturated with options and now we're treated to new (at least to the South) stuff monthly.

sidenote:

They were being modest with the $5-6 dollar estimate. A 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue runs about 11-13 bucks in Atlanta. I nice bottle Allagash Fluxus can run 15-20. Stop by the Brick Store pub in Decatur and you can be sipping beer at $10+ a glass.....and it's all so delicoius.

I live about a mile from the Brickstore and I have become an absolute beer snob because of that place. You can get plenty of good beers there for around $5-6. The ones that are $10+ are usually pretty small batches and/or 750 ml bottles. Here's there menu and you can find the prices on the draught and bottle links on the right - http://www.brickstorepub.com/home/

But anyway, good for Alabama. Slowly moving into this century.

My favorite thing about Brick Store. I didn't check my e-mail till late but the head guy at Stone Brewing was there last night with a couple random cask for whoever was around.

I still want to do one of those dinners they have with the beer pairings.

You sound like your in the area. Have you checked out Leons yet? Same owners and right down the street. Two thumbs up.

I've been meaning to check Leons out. When i've been going to Decatur as of late, i'm usually starting at Taco Mac if they have one of those limited Sweetwater or Terrapin releases (Terrapin 30 stong was pretty tasty) then usually end up at Brick Store or Twains. I enjoy Brick Store more in the afternoon or early evening when you can get in and get a table and actually be able to get around. A packed Belgian room isn't all that fun imo.

Have you been to Hop City yet? http://www.hopcitybeer.com/ The website isn't much b/c they opened 3 weeks ago but they had a great selection. Some random stuff I haven't seen at Greens if that gives you any indication. The owner said their initial order had 1200 different kinds of beer.

[BamaGrad03 0]

David, there's a huge hole in your logic. Mainly becuase the whole point of this bill was to get more beers with higher alcohol conent.

Comparing a bud light to a michelob light is one thing. But comparing a bud light to a beer with 10% alcohol is an entirely different one. The presence of more alcohol changes the flavor note tremendously, and gives brewers more room for creativity.

Hell, just look at the difference between a light beer and a regular beer of the same brand. There's a huge difference (and yes I can tell) in the fullness of flavor between a bud and bud light. Bud light has 4%, Budweiser 5%.

[TitanTiger 20,542]

Hey you ATL denizens, how are the various beers from Atlanta Brewing Co.? They are starting to show up in the grocery store here.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Hey you ATL denizens, how are the various beers from Atlanta Brewing Co.? They are starting to show up in the grocery store here.

I've never had anything from the Atlanta Brewing Company. But I'll say that if you can get a sweetwater IPA on draught while IN atlanta...its one of the best beer drinking experiences you can have.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

Never had anything from Atlanta Brewing Co either, but I'll second Sweetwater IPA. I love that beer. If I can't make up my mind on what I want when I'm at the Brickstore, that's my go to beer.

I'll have to check out that hop city store. I don't really know of any stores dedicated to just craft beers in town, so that should be a cool place to check out.

And as for not being able to tell the difference, there's a definite difference in the beers we're talking about and say a Miller Lite, but I'm not afraid to get a PBR tallboy if I'm looking to save a little cash. That's a good tasting beer. I like Budweiser too. I've gotten to the point that I really have a hard time drinking Bud Light. It's like I'm drinking a flat, watered down Coke. I just can't do it.

[BamaGrad03 0]

People joke, but PBR is a good beer. It's my change of pace beer. It always gets thrown in with natty light and the beast...but it's not even close. Those taste awful...just awful.

I'm with you on the bud light deal. I used to drink it a lot but it's such a letdown now that I'd almost rather not have a beer at all.

[bellefay1 1]

Hey you ATL denizens, how are the various beers from Atlanta Brewing Co.? They are starting to show up in the grocery store here.

Their regular stuff is pretty ok at best. I'm assuming y'all are probably getting Laughing Skull, Peachtree Pale Ale, their blonde or their regular ale. A change of pace from the stuff in Alabama but nothing I would write home about. They do some seasonal stuff like a double chocolate oatmeal porter that is rather good but as a whole, I would put them behind Terrapin and Sweetwater in terms of the stuff coming out of Georgia.

If y'all are looking for some new, higher alcohol beers that will probably make it to your neck of the woods shortly, look for some of the single bottle special release brews that Terrapin has been putting out(They're called side projects). I know they ship them to South Carolina so I would guess y'all could get some somewhat quickly. This "month" they did a Scottish style ale that I enjoyed.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/terrapin-side...otch-ale/98260/

sidenote:

Two great websites to keep up with what beer is coming your way and if people liked it.

www.ratebeer.com

www.beeradvocate.com

[Aubie16 1]

Reilly signed it!!!!

Whoohoo.

And Ward...if you think I can't tell the difference between a Miller Lite and a Dogfish Head 90 Minute...just wow.