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.