Judgement Day

Scott Metzger, owner of Freetail Brewing Company, wrote on his blog about the recent ruling Authentic Beverage v. TABC case:

Judge [Sparks] has ruled Sec. 108.01(a)(4) of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment. . Additionally, he has ruled Texas Administrative Code Title 16, Sec 45.77, 45.79(f), 45.90, & 45.110(c)(3) unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment.

What does this mean in layman’s terms? 3 things:

1. TABC cannot prohibit you from telling customers or advertising where they can buy your products
2. TABC cannot require you to label your products by their definition of “beer” and “ale”
3. TABC cannot prohibit you from advertising the strength of your products by prohibiting words like “strong”, “prewar strength”, “full strength”, etc

Head on over the Brewed and Never Battered.  Scott has added a couple of other posts on the topic.