On March 21, we ran a post congratulating Mississippi grass-roots organization Raise Your Pints on their successful multi-year effort to make homebrewing legal in their state, leaving Alabama as the only state left prohibiting it. Today, the Governor of Alabama signed legislation legalizing homebrewing in Alabama, also the result of a grassroots efforts of “regular,…
Two very different ideas were presented to the Montana House Business and Labor Committee this morning in a lengthy, civil hearing that drew tavern owners, brewers, barley growers, consumers and other industry members from around the state. The hearing on HB 616, the so-called “brewery killing bill,” sponsored by Rep. Roger Hagen, started out with…
Thanks to a grass roots efforts from savvy beer lovers, a lot of hard work, and a sympathetic Governor, Mississippi joined 48 other states in legalizing homebrewing with the stroke of the Governor’s pen on March 19. Alabama remains the lone holdout. In Montana we’ve long taken homebrewing for granted. It’s one of the few…
Consider this, if you will: “Once considered nuisances, sources of noxious emissions and debasers of public morals, breweries now are being actively courted. Last May, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) signed into law a measure that allows breweries to retail beer by the pint or growler in their tasting rooms instead of merely giving…
There is no hotter topic related to beer in Montana now than the (still unrelased) proposed bill to significantly amend the “small brewery exception” afforded Montana’s breweries with annual production of between 100 and 10,000 barrels. The exception permits small breweries to sell up to 48 ounces, per person, per day between the hours of…
A bill to clearly prohibit patrons from bringing their own alcohol into restaurants and other establishments that do not have an on-premise alcohol license was rejected by the Montana House of Representatives today on a 31-69 vote. Sponsored by Representative Roger Hagan, House Bill 405 easily passed out of committee (17-3), but it wasn’t even…
You may recall our earlier discussions about a bill introduced to the Montana Legislature in January which would create a new “boutique” beer/wine shop license category. The previous bill would have allowed true bottle shops, but restricted their hours to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It did, however, allow such shops to have up to…
Given Montana’s quota system for on-premise alcohol licenses, which we’ve talked a lot about recently, there are many restaurants which do not serve alcohol. Over the years, it became relatively common for many of these places to allow patrons to bring in their own alcohol such as a six pack of beer or a bottle…
The Montana Tavern Association’s recent attempts to stifle brewery tap rooms touched a serious nerve with craft beer fans. Comments on this blog and other social media sites ranged from a call-to-arms to the unprintable (which I delete). Yet, commenters raised one common question more than any other: Why would the MTA want to enact…
Montana doesn’t have tap rooms, a point I’m reminded about by John Iverson, the new lobbyist for the Montana Tavern Association. They have sample rooms. That’s what the law calls them. From the MTA’s perspective, they’ve become far too successful. One industry representative who asked to remain anonymous describes it this way: They were supposed…