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.