About those teenagers ...

All the legislatin' earlier this week has me thinking about a main argument of those against raising Alabama's 6-percent alcohol-by-volume limit for beer. Teenagers, they say, will get their hands on gourmet beers and guzzle them down like Kool-Aid, leading to Lord-knows-what type of other dangerous behavior.

First off, I'm not sure why other people's inability to keep their children from breaking the law should limit my choice of legal adult beverages. But given that some teens do wind up drinking beer, I'll entertain the following question: Are kids gonna to flock to higher-alcohol gourmet brews if they become legal in Alabama? The answer: not likely, because while they may be dumb, most teenagers aren't stupid.

Let's say I'm a 17-year-old with nothing constructive to do on Friday night. I've got $12 in my pocket, and an older sister who's willing to pop into the local convenience store to pick up something for me and three buddies to party with. Let's also say it's 2009, and last year the Legislature saw fit to raise the allowed ABV limit to 13.9 percent (this could happen) and distributors are now stocking America's finest craft beers in every corner store (I wish, but don't count on it), including the gas station where my sister will be buying the beer.

I know that the station stocks at least these two beers: 24-can cases of Natural Light, and four-bottle packs of Dogfish Head 90 Minute India Pale Ale. Both cost between $9 and $12. Which do I tell my sister to buy? Let's analyze:

24 12-ounce cans of Natural Light at 4.2 percent alcohol by volume (according to BeerAdvocate.com). That's six for me, and six for each of my friends. Or four 12-ounce bottles of the 90 Minute, at 9 percent ABV. That's one bottle for each of us.

If we're really planning to party I'll tell her to buy the Natty Light, won't I? One bottle of beer each won't fuel a fiesta for very long, after all, compared to the full six-pack apiece we'd get with the regular stuff.

But what if we're taken in by the label on the Dogfish Head, with its alluring mention of more alcohol? At 9 percent ABV, the four 12-ounce bottles contain a total of 4.32 ounces of alcohol. My buddies and I will sip 1.08 ounces of alcohol each, assuming the IPA's super-bitter taste doesn't make us spit it right back out.

By contrast, if sis gets us the Natty, at the much-lower 4.2 percent ABV, there's 12.096 ounces of alcohol in the entire case. My friends and I each drink 3.024 ounces of alcohol as we chug down our six light, "easy-to-drink" brewskis.

That's right. We wind up with three times as much alcohol in our systems drinking the "low-alcohol" Natural Light as we would with the "high-alcohol" 90 Minute IPA, for around the same price.

Now, I hope Alabama's parents can find a way to teach their children responsible behavior, including waiting until they're old enough to consume alcohol. But assuming those parents need the government's help keeping kids away from beer, it's not the expensive, hard-to-find, high-alcohol gourmet craft brews I'd be worried about. Of course, it's already illegal for kids to buy alcohol, and they're doing it anyway. I'm not sure how making it illegal for adults to buy the beer they like makes kids any safer.

Keep your eye on the bill

The fella I couldn't identify below (I allied him to the railroad and then retail industry below, probably incorrectly), wound up offering an amendment to HB196 that would prohibit low-cost, high-alcohol beer from being sold. He was worried about it getting into the hands of teenagers. I would counter that it's already illegal for teens to buy alcohol, and that no additional laws are needed to keep it from them.

Still, his amendment may have been accepted. Hard to tell right now. Keep your eyes on HB196 to see what it says in the end.

EDIT: I may have spoken too soon. Looks like the bill may not have gotten any changes. Here's a link to the roll-call vote so you can see how your rep cast his ballot. I'm disappointed to see that Jacksonville's Lea Fite voted "no."

It's passed!

HB196 passed!

EDIT: I think the vote was 48-42. Close, but enough to get by. Bring on the Senate.

Free the Hops' message board is acting screwy. Must be a lot of folks trying to celebrate online right now. And rightly so!

One hurdle down, another yet to clear today

The bill to increase the allowed ABV limit on beer sold in Alabama has passed the Budget Isolation Resolution vote, where a similar bill stumbled in the House of Representatives last year. That means it's now finally up for debate, looking for an up-or-down vote on the proposal itself.

It's now being discussed on the floor (I think), and you can hear it live via the House Web site.

I'm not sure who's talking now, but he's not making much sense. He said that we don't need more alcohol for the young people to drink. Dude, the legal drinking age in this state is 21. He also said that "you can buy anything you want tonight at the state store." Except craft beer, friend.

Now a representative of the Alabama Railroad Association (huh? or was it "Retail?") is asking who will set the standards for what beer will be allowed under this bill. Sir, isn't that exactly what the Legislature is now considering? He's also saying he wants protections against "cheap, high-alcohol beer" flooding the state. Bullcrap. How does the 13.9-percent beer allowed under this bill stack up against the 80-percent-plus alcohol in lquor the state government itself will sell me at my local ABC store?

Warning friends, this is difficult to listen to.

EDIT: I think I understand that the nonsensical gentleman I mentioned before is Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery. He's now sparring with the bill's sponsor, Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville. He's really off the rails now, somehow bringing the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 into his argument against the bill. Jackson didn't help a whole lot, (sorta) getting him onto that track by saying Free the Hops represented "Germans" who asked him to introduce the bill. For the record, FTH is a group of Alabamans who want access to the world's finest beers.

House votes on beer bill today

It's still a ways from becoming law, but if today's vote in the Alabama House of Representatives on HB196 passes, it'll be one big step farther than things got last year. The next hurdle is clearing the Senate, where an identical bill already has been approved in committee. Then it's up to Gov. Bob Riley to sign, and beer fans in Alabama can raise one big toast and enjoy more of the world's best beer.

Want to listen in on the debate? The Legislature has a live audio page for the House, here. All you need is a Web browser and Windows Media Player. According to the House rules, they'll get cranked up around 10 a.m.

EDIT: Looks like the House will actually convene at 1 p.m. today. Just a few more hours until the big moment. (Typing with my fingers crossed.)

Legislature update

The ABV bill approved Wednesday by the Alabama House Tourism & Travel Committee got its second reading in the full House today, according to ALISON, the Legislature's interactive Web site. It's set for a third reading, and hopefully a vote, on Tuesday.

By the way, the bill - HB196 - as approved by the committee, amended the proposed new alcohol limit for beer to 13.9 percent. The bill originally called for a 14.9 percent limit. Free the Hops and its supporters compromised on the limit to get more support for the bill. (Any way you slice it, 13.9 percent still lets more good beer into the state than the current 6 percent.)

The House took up one other alcohol-related bill today. HB77, which passed the house and now goes to the Senate, would introduce special drivers licenses for convicted DUI offenders who are required to have ignition-interlock devices installed on their cars. The devices check the driver's blood-alcohol level and prevent the car from starting if he's over the legal limit (Wikipedia has a good primer on the technology). The bill also would set penalties for trying to get around the devices, or loaning unencumbered cars to restricted drivers.

EDIT (2:46 p.m.) - I should note that SB116, the identical companion to the House ABV bill, also got a favorable review from its committee, and was read for the second time in the Senate today. Like the House bill, it's listed as ready for a third reading Tuesday, which is the next step before a vote. FTH's Stuart Carter says that may not happen until mid-March.

ABV bill clears committee

Thanks to The Star's Montgomery correspondent, Markeshia Ricks, we've got the latest on the Alabama House ABV bill - it was approved by the House's Tourism & Travel Committee after a public hearing today.

Free the Hops President Stuart Carter, and John Little, an attorney who represents Huntsville's Olde Towne Brewing and founded the Auburn Brew Club, spoke in support of the bill. The Alabama Citizens' Action Program spoke against it, as they have in the past.

An advisory council to the committee recommended the bill's passage, saying it could help enhance visits by, for instance, Germans connected with Mercedes Benz's plant in Vance, who come from a culture more accustomed to beer consumption. (Editorial note: How about doing it for the Americans who are accustomed to drinking beer?)

The bill could receive its second reading as early as tomorrow; the earliest it could come up for a vote in the full House is March 26, Markeshia tells me.

Hearing Wednesday for ABV bill

The Alabama House Travel & Tourism Committee is getting together Wednesday for public hearings on a number of alcohol-related bills, including the legislation that would raise Alabama's alcohol-by-volume limit from 6 percent.

According to the schedule at the Alabama Legislative Information System Online, the committee's set to meet at 1:30 p.m. in Room 123 of the State House (that's the big building with the dome on top). The hearing, of course, is open to the public, and citizens may testify in support of or opposition to the proposed laws being discussed. More info on attending committee meetings is available at the Legislature's online visitors' guide.

I expect there will be a number of people there to speak both for and against the ABV bill, HB196. If you want to make sure your view is adequately represented, I urge you to attend.

There are three other bills up for discussion at Wednesday's meeting.

• HB64 would specify that only people 21 could patronize or work in private clubs. It also would set the legal age for possession of alcohol in dry counties at 21 - currently, for some reason (unchanged old law?), the the law sets the legal age at 19 in dry counties.
• HB278 would allow for the licensing of wineries in any county where wine is legally available for purchase.
• HB260 would spell out dates, times & other regulations for the sale of alcohol at state parks, resorts and other facilities.
  

Roadblocks removed?

The folks at Free the Hops report that they've struck deals that may lead to the passage of a bill that would raise the state's ABV cap to 13.9 from the current 6. A couple of points of progress to report:

FTH's Stuart Carter says the Alabama Wholesale Beer Association helped negotiate a deal with Birmingham Budweiser's Pat Lynch. FTH had called for a boycott of products distributed by B'ham Bud because they said Lynch had stood in the way of attempts to change the law in the past. Pat Lynch confirmed to The Star that those negotiations took place, and that he does support the statewide bill.

Carter also reported today that the bill has the support of AWBA and of Anheuser-Busch, which produces the products Lynch's company distributes. The association and the brewer helped work out the deal, he says.

The compromise: the new ABV limit would be 13.9 percent, rather than the 14.9 percent currently specified by bills now before committees in the House and the Senate.

Meanwhile, Carter says his group it's no longer pushing the boycott of AB products distributed by Birmingham Budweiser.

Could this be the year Alabama gets access to some of the world's finest beers? We'll have to see what the lawmakers do. I'll be checking frequently for amendments to the text of the bills online, and I'll let you know what I see.

Legislation on tap

While Alabama may be behind the times in beer laws, we're on the cutting edge when it comes to transparency of the legislative process online. With a system called ALISON (for Alabama Legislative Information System ONline), Web users can track the status of any bill introduced in the Legislature. You can also read the full text of each bill, and see how it fares in votes on the floor. With so much going on beer-wise in Montgomery these days, I thought some readers might find it a handy resource.

There are a bunch of other features it would take too long to explain here, but here are the basics you'll need to check up on bills you're interested in: Go to ALISON, then click on "Bills" in the top of the left-hand menu. That'll expand a list of options below; click on "Status." That'll bring up a prompt to the right for the bill number you're interested in. Type it in the box and click "Get Status." Some brief info on the bill then comes up; to the left of that is a button with your bill's number. Click on that, and then look at the top of the screen, where options including "History," "Sponsors," and "View" are listed left-to-right. Options in white are clickable (anything in gray doesn't apply yet).

Now for those all important bill numbers:

House bill to lift 6-percent ABV limit: HB196
Senate bill to lift 6-percent ABV limit: SB116
House bill to lift limit in Jefferson County: HB53

The folks at Free the Hops say they also plan more local bills and a bill to address home brewing. I'll post the numbers here as I learn them.

Yesterday's column

Here's yesterday's column. Sorry it's getting up here a day late - I was out yesterday with the funk that's going around, and barely switched on my computer at home. (Note: Flying Dog's Road Dog Porter with a hot bowl of potato soup and a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich is a great pick-up when you're feeling low).

Pitcher This: Another round of battle over beer laws

02-06-2008

Advocates for getting better beer into Alabama aren't letting last year's defeat keep them from trying again.

Free the Hops, a grassroots group dedicated to reforming state laws restricting the sale of beer, has once again introduced a bill to raise the amount of alcohol allowed in beer sold here. The Legislature opened its 2008 session Tuesday.

A similar bill made it out of committee in the House last year, but died in the Senate because there wasn't enough support to bring it up for a vote. It never came up in the Senate — like just about every other measure that died, which was most of them — because legislators there were too busy fighting amongst themselves for control of the chamber. Remember the punch that ended last year's session? (And those guys were sober - reportedly).

While last year's bill never got a chance to measure its support in either chamber, Stuart Carter, Free the Hops' president, has hopes he'll be able to toast the Legislature's close with the kind of carefully crafted, critically acclaimed but currently illegal beers he loves. He said the group made progress convincing lawmakers last year.

"Some legislators knew all the beers" available at a special tasting session the group hosted in Montgomery, Carter said. "A lot had never heard of them; they didn't know such things were possible."

Much of the resistance to changing the law appears to come from misinformation, miscommunication or outright disregard for the truth.

Opponents seem to imagine juiced-up rednecks driving the roads, guzzling higher-alcohol versions of the watery brews they think of as beer — the kind that comes in 12- or 24-packs of aluminum cans and bears a striking resemblance to tap water dosed with a drop of yellow food coloring.

Worse yet, they imagine juiced-up teenagers doing the same thing, winding wheels-up in a ditch.

The truth is, the beers Carter and the Free the Hops folks are after aren't likely to wind up rattling around in the bed of anyone�s pickup en route to a night of drunken mischief. They're looking for fine, full-flavored and pretty darn expensive beverages from tiny craft brewers across the U.S. and around the globe.

You're not going to catch your local ne'er-do-well or mischievous high-schooler chugging this stuff just like you won�t find them guzzling bottles of imported French wine. It's expensive, it's an acquired taste, and even when it's legal it's likely not going to be on the shelf at your local quick-rip. (The law, by the way, would allow the same alcohol in beer as is in wine sold here.)

"We're talking about the Mercedes of beers, here," Carter said. "The situation we're in now, you can get just about any Ford or GM, some of the Hondas, some of the Toyotas. That's nice, but we're all adults here."

If Carter and company are successful this time around, there'll be a lot more interesting beer to test drive in Alabama.

Catching up

I meant to post a link to this on Friday. The Birmingham News had a story on Free the Hops' Birmingham Budweiser boycott. Pretty well well done.

I spoke with Stuart Carter, FTH's president yesterday, and apparently the group is happy with the coverage. They feel the media has often gotten key points of their proposals wrong in the past, but that this story, in providing background on the organization and its goals, got it mostly right. An excerpt:

Beer can be sold in the same stores where wine is sold, but wine can be as much as 14.9 percent alcohol by volume. Robinson's bill would raise the allowable alcohol content of beer to the level of wine.

Hard liquors available at liquor stores can have much higher alcohol content. A pure grain alcohol, such as Everclear, is 95 percent alcohol by volume.

I was talking with Carter for tomorrow's column, by the way. It'll provide an overview of the group's plans for the Legislature this year.

Compromise broken, but by who?

In a post yesterday evening, I reported that Pat Lynch, Birmingham Budweiser vice president, said he blocked a bill in the Legislature last year that would have raised the allowed alcohol limit for beer sold in Jefferson County because the bill's supporters broke a compromise by drafting a bill that also would have allowed for beer sales in containers larger than 16 ounces. The text of the bill in question, however, contains no such language. It's available online at the Legislature's Web site, here.

Stuart Carter is president of Free the Hops, the main group advocating for changes to the laws restricting beer sales in Alabama. He reacted strongly to Lynch's claim, saying supporters had put off the goal of larger container sizes to address the 6-percent ABV limit. The local bill was introduced last year when it became clear that a bill to raise the limit statewide would not pass. Carter says Lynch agreed to help pass the local bill, with the stipulation that higher-alcohol beer must be sold unrefrigerated, but that Lynch later withdrew his support.

Carter and Free the Hops called Tuesday for a boycott of products distributed in Jefferson County by Lynch's company, Birmingham Budweiser, in response to what they said was Lynch's continued opposition to their efforts. A list of brands distributed by the company is available at a discussion of the boycott at FTH's Web site, here.

Lynch earlier criticized the call for a boycott, saying FTH should have called to discuss the matter first.

"We didn't feel it was necessary to notify him we were about to launch a boycott in the same way he didn't feel it was necessary to notify us when he was about to kill our Jefferson County bill last year, " Carter wrote in an e-mail to The Star.

EDIT (3:48 p.m.): A complete response by Carter to Lynch's comments is available online at the FTH site, here.

Hopping up

The Chicago Tribune in a recent story examined the trend toward heavier hops flavor in American craft beers. Since the craft-brewing market was born in the 1970s, the definition of what's hoppy has changed. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the story notes, was once considered an extremely hops-flavored beer, with an international-bitterness-unit rating of 37. The Tribune had a panel try seven beers for its story, and the least-hoppy, Two Brothers' Heavy Handed IPA, one had an IBU rating of 62 - most were 90 or higher.

For what it's worth, the methods brewers use to get more hops flavor into their beers also wind up increasing the alcohol content too. Unfortunately for us in Alabama, that means the hoppiest beers are illegal here. Of the seven brews mentioned in the Tribune story, only one came in under our state's 6-percent alcohol-by volume cap - Heavy Handed, the least bitter of the bunch.

B&W: Blaze & ban make July a bummer

Black & White, an independent weekly newspaper in Birmingham, notes that July stunk for Alabama beer lovers who like their stuff brewed close to home. The story, published in the paper's Aug. 9 edition, cites the July 5 fire that destroyed Huntsville's Olde Towne Brewing Co., and the disappearance of Sweetwater IPA from store shelves in the state. Sweetwater changed its recipe for the IPA after Georgia raised it alcohol-by-volume limit from the 6-percent cap in 2005, according to the story. They kept distributing in Alabama, somehow flying under the radar in a state where the 6-percent rule was still in force. Someone snitched, though, and the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board brought down the hammer. So who was the snitch? Sweetwater's PR guy Steve Farris told the paper:

“I don’t think that it was just a consumer sitting at home saying, ‘Hey, I drank two of these and I feel funny.’”