Contact Your Senator

I contacted my State Senator last week asking him to oppose SB 639, which would completely undo all the positive changes in Texas' beer laws and create a government price control on transactions between brewer and distributor (leaving retailers and consumers to twist in the distributor's wind). Sponsored by Senator John Carona, R-Dallas, henceforth known on this blog as Quockerwodger John Carona, Q-Dallas, the bill is almost universally opposed by everyone, from ABInBev, Texas craft brewers, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Beer Alliance of Texas, to an alliance of Texas Retailers. The only supporter of Quockerwodger Carona's bill was-Surprise!-The Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas.

In order to better serve the citizens of the State of Texas, I re-propose that all quockerwodgers (read "politicians") wear the logo of the organization pulling their strings on their clothing.  Like this:

Quockerwodger John Carona, Q-Dallas

Contact your quockerwodger today!

That Time of Year Again

According to the latest study by UTSA (Go, Roadrunners!) Economics Professor Scott Metzger, founder and CEO of San Antonio-based Freetail Brewing Co., Texas' craft breweries accounted for more than half the brewery jobs in Texas while only being 0.7% of all the beer consumed in the state. With some help from our legislators, it could grow from $.5 billion industry, where it stands today, to a $5.6 billion industry.

I just realized that last sentence is an oxymoron. "Help" and "Legislators" never go together! Hell! I can't even get mine to answer a freakin' letter!

So here's what we need to do: ask our legislators why they oppose growing Texas jobs, Texas small business, and in state tax revenues, and would prefer to ship all those jobs to other states and countries. Then, when they don't answer, contribute to Open the Taps and let them be the voice of the fourth tier--the consumer.

Drink Beer. Save Texas.

Can Ban Hitting New Braunfels Tourism

Floating down the Texas Hill Country Rivers in innertubes and sipping beer is a long standing Texas summer tradition. Unfortunately so is the massive trash clean up. The city of New Braunfels got tired of it and banned single use containers--cans and bottles.  They didn't ban alcohol on the river, just the can or bottle it comes in. You can now buy insulated mugs that hold three beers.

Of course, that means that once that runs out, the only thing you have left to drink is the river water. And I don't know about you, but I've seen people who float all day long and never once pee. Wink wink.

So do these tubers now each carry two or three of the tree beer mugs? Can I take a corny keg and ice and dispense with a cobra tap?

Anyway, the can ban (along with the raging floods of 2010 and the 2011 drought) has taken its toll on tourism in the city. Now people are staying away because they think they can't drink beer in their inner tube.

I won't lie. When I tubed, I flooded my cans and let them sink. (And I peed while in the inner tube, but that's just between you and me.)  I should have put my empties in my cooler. I saw others through empty bottles into the trees along the shore. So I understand the city's complaint. 


So to all beer drinkers: Don't be a dick. Pack it in, pack it out. Okay?

Single Beer Ban in D.C. to Be Expanded to Multipacks

A bill aimed at curbing public drunkenness isn't working.  Washington, D.C. officials passed a law banning the sale of single packages of beer, malt liquor, and small bottles of booze to "ward off troublemaking drunks, people who buy one beer and then hang around drinking it on the sidewalk." In other areas of the city the ban has reduced the number of arrests made, but not in this particular ward. However, crafty beer distributors and/or retailers (the article is unclear whether it is the distributors or the retails doing it) in the area are making two-packs of the offending beers. So city fathers want to extend the ban to two-packs and three-packs. Four and six-packs would still be legal.  For now. Until the troublemaking drunks start buying six packs.

Navajo Grill Beer Menu Needs Reform

A few days ago, I went to a retirement party thrown for a co-worker at Navajo Grill, here in Paradise. The food menu, as usual, was outstanding. Navajo Grill is one of my favorite restaurants in town and the one I recommend the most, after Fredericksburg Brewing Company. They other night they poured wine from Becker Vineyards, but I don't drink wine. So I asked for a beer. There menu was short: Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, Real Ale Rye IPA and Fireman's #4, Shiner Bock and Black (they also listed 102, which sold out last year).

They served their wine in nice crystal glasses.  Even the water was served in crystal. The beer? It came in the bottle with a napkin wrapped around it.

This from one of the nicest restaurants in town.

It reminded me of Scott Metzger's challenge to San Antonio restaurants. He offered to help any restaurant revamp their beer list to include Texas craft beer. I am challenging the restaurants here in Fredericksburg to add more Texas brewed choices. I'd be happy to help.  Just check my profile and shoot me an email.

Currently, you can get not only Real Ale and Shiner, but also Rahr & Sons, Independence Brewing, and Jester King. Why aren't they in more restaurants around here?

(Here are the Texas breweries that don't distribute to Fredericksburg: Deep Ellum Brewing, Fanconia, Peticolas, (512) Brewing, Austin Beerworks, Circle Brewing, Hops & Grain, Live Oak Brewing, Middleton Brewing, South Austin Brewing, Thirsty Planet Brewing, Twisted X Brewing, Buffalo Bayou Brewing, Karbach Brewing, No Label Brewing, Southern Star Brewing, Wicked Beaver Brewing, and Ranger Creek.)

If you have similar problems in your city, you need to contact the restaurant managers and ask for Texas beer.

Open The Taps Beer Voting Guide

Earlier, Open The Taps sent all candidates for the Texas Legislature a questionnaire about their positions on beer issues. They have been collecting the responses and have finally released their Beer Voting Guide.

I noticed that my State Representative, Doug Miller (who has never, ever responded to all the emails I have sent him)--Surprise! Surprise!--didn't respond to the questionnaire.  His opponent in the Republican Primary, Robert Smith, did return the questionnaire and said he would support brewery sales, and brewpub distribution. Libertarian candidate Rex Black did not respond either.

So, despite my misgivings about Smith's far right wing stance, I will support Smith for State Legislature.

(I so wish there was a box on the ballot that said "Please, Lord, Someone Else.")

Find out which of your candidates supports Beer Freedom in Texas, and vote for them in the primary on May 29th.

Taxes and Consumption - I Was Right

When President Obama first took office, he raised cigarette taxes to fund children's insurance.  I pointed out that this was nothing but political posturing, since the new tax will make people stop smoking, and would only raise enough money for children's insurance if everyone in the country were required to buy a pack of smokes a day.

Here's how taxes affect alcohol consumption in the US.

Check out Georgia and Alaska.

In Memoriam HB660 and HB602, a Vow, and a Call to Action

I have spent a few depressed days after the deaths of HB 602 and HB 660 reflecting on the truth of Will Rogers' words: "We have the best government money can buy."  We no longer have a democracy.  We have a government for corporations.  All laws in the country are crafted to benefit corporations, and ignore the citizens.

I have read several blog posts who were more able to put those feelings into words.  They inspired me to write this post.

The Problems

I don't think it's really necessary to recount the perfidy of beer and wine distributors, AB InBev and MillerCoors.  But I'm going to do it anyway.

The National Beer Wholesalers of America is currently having their employees in Congress craft what is ironically called the CARE (Community Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness) Act.  Wrapped in a cloak of States Rights, this bill is intended to stop Internet sales of alcohol and put more power into the hands of distributors.  If you like California or Texas wine and live in Maine, for Example, you can order wine on the Internet for delivery to your home.  Under the "CARE" Act, ordering wine or beer from another state will become illegal.  It would also prohibit anyone from bring suit against the government, which would violate the Constitution.

Remember BrewMasters?  I watched the show, liked it in principle, but found it less a treatise on brewing that the Church of His Holiness Sam Caligione found it, and more of a "Ace of Cakes" type of show. And that is not a bad thing. Six episodes were produced, only five were aired. in five different time slots.  To me, it looked like Discovery was trying to kill the show.  Turns out, they were.  Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations, Tweeted in March that Budweiser told Discovery to cancel the show or they would pull their advertising.

This was followed by an interesting show called "How Beer Saved the World" on the Discovery Channel. This show chronicled the impact of beer on civilization in a humorous and interesting way, but appeared to be an hour long advertisement for MillerCoors, with fairly heavy handed product placement clips of Miller Lite throughout.  I'm sure AB InBev had a few choice words for Discovery after that!

Currently, AB InBev is attempting to overturn an Illinois law banning out of state breweries from self-distributing.  AB InBev does not have a brewery in Illinois but they want to buy a distributor in that state. (It probably also has something to do with their purchase of Goose Island.)  Since AB InBev has deep pockets and can buy all the votes they need, this will effectively kill independent Illinois based brewers.

Meanwhile, MillerCoors has opened a front in the Craft Beer Wars in Wisconsin, home to my beloved New Glarus.  Their corporate legislators have introduced a bill that would remove the option of a brewer to choose to self-distribute, require new distributors to have 25 accounts before they can get a license, prohibit a brewery from owning two restaurants (think BJ's or Gordon Biersch), and would prohibit a distributor from investing in a Wisconsin brewery but allow investment in an out-of-state or foreign brewery.

Here in Texas, AB InBev at first supported HB602, which would allow breweries producing under 75,000 barrels to sell a six pack of product at the conclusion of a paid tour.  The bill passed the House unanimously, and then, suddenly, AB InBev realized that they were excluded from the six pack sale.  AB InBev does not offer tours of its Houston plant (which produces 3.2 million barrels a year or 3,192,500 barrels more than the cap), but they might, perhaps, possibly, maybe, one day, be willing to want to think about doing a tour, and would be left out.  Even more galling, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas would only support HB602 with the production cap.  They knew that their employees in the Senate, and the Lieutenant Governor's office, would kill the bill when AB InBev complained.  (For the record, I don't care for the cap.)

And HB660, which would have allowed brew pubs to sell beer to distributors for sale to retail accounts, never made it out of commitee. Nor did the bill that would allow distilleries like Garrison Brothers to sell bottles after tours, like you can do at Jack Daniels in Tennessee or Makers Mark in Kentucky.

As other bloggers have pointed out, there's a lot of blame to go around: Big Brewers, Distributors, Lobbyists, timid politicians, the small brewers, and us beer geeks.

Industry Solutions


OpenMarket.org suggested that it's time for Texas' alcohol producers to band together to defend their right to produce and market their products.  The wine lobby in Texas is stronger than WBDT.  They can sell at the winery, they can have a restaurant and sell to distributors, they are exempt from  booth fees at events, and can even sell their wine in dry counties.  They use the cudgel of the economic impact of Texas wine tourism, second only to Napa, California's.

What author Michelle Minton suggested is that Texas beer and spirit producers join with the Texas wine lobby to create a stronger organization to effect change in Texas' antiquated, Byzantine liquor laws.

Consumer Solutions


Beer Geeks like you and I have to do something too. We need to be vocal in our support of Texas Craft Beer. Barleyvine.com gave these suggestions:

• Ask for Texas Craft Beer at every restaurant you dine at.  Write them letters.  Remind them that the customer is always right. Post on their Facebook page.  Talk to the manager.  Be polite and courteous. If they don't want to carry Texas Craft Beer, then vote with your wallet and eat elsewhere.
• Introduce your BMC-drinking friends to Texas Craft Beer.  Encourage them to switch to locally produced beer.  (You don't have to stop being their friend if they don't, though.;) )
• Vote.  When your local rep comes, hat in hand, asking for your vote, ask them if they will vote for Texas brewery rights.  If they try to avoid the question, pin them down.  Let them know that your vote is contingent on their answer.  Until we make our reps understand that they represent us, not large, multi-national corporations.  Find out who contributes to their campaigns.  Find out which bills they support.  Hold them accountable for their positions.  Don't just blindly assume your rep is a good guy, and that it is the other reps fault.  And if your rep supports Texas craft beer, make sure you support them as loudly and as publicly as you can.  Brewtiful.com added: Unelect those who aren't with us and shame those on the fence.

Brewtiful.com posted an eloquent three part rant about Texas Beer Laws, and suggested that Texas Beer Geeks should become evangelists for Texas Beer.  If you're going to GABF or Dark Lord Day, take Texas beer.  I am taking a dozen bottles of Texas beer to the National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego.  None of the beer is distributed outside the state. (Hell! most of it isn't distributed in the Great Texas Craft Beer Desert™.)

Another great Brewtiful.com suggestion is that we form our own PAC:

"If InBev and NBWA can lobby, so, too, can beer geeks.  Let’s start our own lobbying group and Take it to The Man. . .I’m tired of letting these yahoos in Austin dictate beer law, especially now when it is now crystal clear that Austin only cares about huge, international corporations and lobbyists, and not their Texas citizens. . .If craft beer enthusiasts remain isolated from each other, we remain weak; if we band together in furtherance of a common goal – I believe we can achieve real, meaningful change."

Mississippi has Raise Your Pints, Alabama has Free the Hops, England has CAMRA.  Maybe we could energize Texas Beer Freedom, which hasn't been updated in a few weeks.  Or maybe we could just call our group Take It To The Man!  But we have to do something, or AB InBev, MillerCoors and the WBDT will be telling us what we can drink, and what we can buy.

My Vow


It's easy to sit here and bitch.  It's harder to act.  So, in that spirit, I have taken this vow:

1. I will only drink Texas-owned, Texas-brewed beer. (I will grant an exemption to Shiner beer.  They maybe owned by a Mexican national, but the Spoetzl Brewery is a Historic Texas Brewery.)  If I visit another state, I will only drink locally owned, locally brewed beer.
2. I will ask for Texas-owned, Texas-brewed beer at every restaurant.  Afterwards, I will send a letter to the restaurant explaining why I won't be back if they don't carry it.
3. I will donate regularly and volunteer my time regularly to TexasBeerFreedom.org, or any other grass roots movement with the same goal.
4. I will encourage others to do the same.

Who will take the vow with me?

Attention Texas Legislators: We could have a beer industry like this! Think of the taxes!

A story at WinesandVines.com shows just how successful the Texas Wine Industry has become.  Over the last decade, vintners have overcome disease and bad process to make the wine area around Fredericksburg (aka, Paradise) home to several excellent wineries.

That's because the State Legislature passed laws making it easier to open and run wineries, including selling wine without a distributor; selling at the winery; and even allowing places to serve food and wine, sell at the winery, and sell to a distributor to resell to a retailer.  We could have a state with 200 breweries, if only we had some legislators with vision, and the courage to stand up to the WBDT.

Just saying. . .

Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) is My New Hero!

Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) issued a strong condemnation of the CARE Act.

 "The federal government has no business picking winners and losers in the wine, beer, and distilled spirits industry. Yet the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act would do just that by banning the direct shipment of wine and other forms of alcohol in the U.S. The impact of this bill would be devastating for brewers, vintners, distillers, importers, and consumers across our country. 

"Specifically, this bill would allow states to replace federal standards with their own, making it harder for out-of-state producers in California and elsewhere to comply with other states' laws. Wholesaler interest groups, the CARE Act's biggest supporters, are lobbying aggressively to unravel the existing regulatory structure. If successful, they stand to monopolize the alcohol market at the expense of other industry members and American consumers. [Emphasis Mine. -Jeff]

"I will not allow this discriminatory bill to go unchallenged. Existing state and federal regulations have created a fair and competitive marketplace for wine and other alcoholic beverages. Nothing has changed. That's why I am prepared to fight to protect our wineries, our businesses, our local economy and our consumers' right to purchase these beverages."

I love that man!

Bad News! The C.A.R.E. Act Introduced

HR 1161 was introduced to the loud applause of the National Wholesale Beer Distributors of America lobby organization.  (In the words of Ron White, I shit you not.  This is the exact wording on the NWBA web site.) This bill would stop Internet interstate wine and beer sales.  Small wineries across the country depend on the Internet sales for their income.  There are a handful of beer vendors who have started selling hard-to-find craft beer on the Internet.  This would shut them down too.

You know what to do.  Contact your Congresscritter and ask them to oppose HR 1161.

Why the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas Hates Texas

If you've been following Scott Metzger's Brewed and Never Battered Blog, you know that he is championing the passage of HB 660, which would allow brew pubs to sell their beers into the retail distribution stream. The predictable opponents reared their heads and predicted minors would be buying beer! Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!  Even with the addition of the requirement that brew pubs sell directly to distributors, they are predicting disasters of Biblical proportions on the horizon.  I began to wonder why, and suddenly, it occurred to me.

The WBDT hates Texas!

How else to explain that, in a time of a $30 billion dollar deficit, they oppose a bill that could generate $56.8 million in new tax revenues just by breweries brewing beer?

How else to explain that, in a time of record unemployment, they oppose a bill that could create 6,829 new jobs?

How else to explain that, in a slow economy, they oppose a bill that could add $678 million a year in new economic activity and could increase payrolls in Texas by $171.8 million a year?

The WBDT would prefer to see California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New York and Delaware (among others), collect that $56.8 billion dollars in taxes generated by brewers.

The WBDT would prefer to see those states keep their jobs, and keep jobs in Texas suppressed.  After all, unemployed people are depressed and need to drink the cheap, corporate beer that they sell.

The WBDT would prefer to see the economic activity just where it is: where filmmakers can use a Texas Beer Distributor's house as a location because it is the only thing opulent enough to look like a Drug Dealer's house.  And they don't want increasing payrolls, because then we might move over to Craft Beer, or--horror of horrors--wine!

Whey would they want that?

Because the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas hate you.  They hate me.  They hate Texas and Texas brewers.  They want to line their pockets--and the Legislators they allow us to elect, by extension--and keep their heels firmly on the back of the neck of the Texas economy.

And if you don't write your State Representative and ask them to support HB 660 and HB 602, you hate Texas, too.

Texas Beer Freedom

The fight for HB 660, which would allow brew pubs to sell beer to distributors and enter the supply chain has a new tool: www.texasbeerfreedom.org.  Texas Beer Freedom is raising money to help with expenses related to ensuring HB 660's passage, most importantly a lobbyist to help the bill get through the legislature, and a consulting firm to help with events coordination and PR. While you and I writing our legislator every day to voice our opinion is a good thing, politicians really only listen to lobbyists, not to the hoi polloi.

Head on over to TexasBeerFreedom.com, and shoot 'em a $20 bill.  It's a good cause.  And keep writing your Legiscritter.  Maybe if we bother them enough, they will do what we want them to do, rather than what large corporations want them to do.

It's Time!

Pretend the Windmill is the Wholesale
Beer Distributors of Texas, and Sir
Quixote is all the Texas brewers

Every two years, I ask my readers to contact the Texas Legislators and express support for a bill that would allow Breweries to sell a small amount of their product at their brewery, just like Texas Wineries can do.

This year, that is HB 602.

Scott Metzger, of Freetail Brewing in San Antonio, has been proposing a bill that would allow your local brewpub to sell their beer to distributors for sale in retail outlets.  That is HB 660.

Now it's time for you to write your Legislator, and tell them you would like them to support these bills. These folks have to take the Wholesalers Lobby seriously--if they offend them, they will support someone else in the next election, and no politician wants to be voted out of office.  So we have to make it clear that this is what We, The People, want.

Currently, the State of Texas is looking at a $27 billion dollar budget deficit.  Here are some points to mention about the bills:

HB 602 will

• allow breweries to create more jobs by helping fund brewery expansion
• create more tax revenue for the State of Texas

HB 606 

• Brewpubs in other states are allowed to sell their beer to distributors and then into retail outlets
• Texas consumer dollars are paying taxes and creating jobs in other states
• The bill will create more jobs
• The bill will create more tax revenue for the State of Texas

If history is any indication, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas (WBDT) will oppose HB 602, claiming that only they can prevent sales of  of alcohol to minors! They will lose jobs! They will have less taxes to pay! Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!  Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

They might oppose HB 606 on the grounds that they will lose sales, which will cost jobs and taxes.  I expect, that since most distributors are tied to one of the Big Three, they will be forced by A-B InBev and MillerCoors to oppose it to protect the big boys' share of market.  Yes, you read that right.  While WBDT controls the legislature, A-B InBev and SABMiller control WBDT.

Texas Beer Distributors won't lose money.  And remember, it was a Texas beer distributors house that was used in Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning movie Traffic.  It was a drug dealers house.

A Must Read Article

A great article on the current state of beer laws in Texas.

To paraphrase JFK, "Ask not what Texas' craft brewers can do for you and what you can do for Texas' craft brewers." Contact your State Representative today! I did.

Senator Hutchion's Fund Raiser is Houston Area Beer Distributor

In her bid to become the next Governor of Texas, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has enlisted Houston beer wholesaler John Nau as "a chief fundraiser." Well, I guess that indicates where she stands on Brewery On Premise sales. . .

Kinky for Governor!

Louisiana Eyes Beer tax Increase

I've written about it before. Raising excise taxes is a self-defeating exercise. The evidence is all around us, and yet politicians still see these regressive taxes a a magic bullet that will fund all their largesses and end the offensive behavior being taxed.

In Louisiana, more politicians are jumping on the excise tax bandwagon to make up for budgetary shortfalls brought about by the recession. Here's a nice article that explains the perils of excise taxes.

As craft beer drinkers, we need to inform our elected criminals, uh, I mean, elected officials that these taxes will only hurt the brewing industry, and remove a source of tax revenue from the rolls.

Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas Endorses Rick Perry

Lee, over at I Love Beer, recently announced that the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas just endorsed incumbent Governor Rick Perry in next year's election. If you are a supporter of craft beer and a Republican, I think your mind has just been made up.

Fort Worth Weekly article on Rahr Brewing and Parity Bill

Here is the article from Fort Worth Weekly about Rahr & Sons and the parity bill working through the legislature. They even quoted me!

In related news, I got this email from Tony Formby of Rahr & Sons:

We have another project for you, equally as dangerous, should you decide to accept its time to call Fort Worth Rep. Charlie Geren. Mr. Geren sits on two critical committees in the legislature that a bill important to Texas brewers is currently in front of. We very much need his vote on both committees for the bill to advance.

The bill is HB 2094. If passed, it will allow Texas breweries to sell tours at their breweries that include packaged beer to take home. The extra revenue this measure will produce for local brewers will help Texas brewers compete and market their products here at home.

We aren’t asking for special treatment, just parity with other brewers in the US who can sell their beer at their breweries in their home states and who ship their beer into our Texas market. See this week’s edition of the Fort Worth weekly for more information on the issue www.fwweekly.com

To our knowledge Rep. Geren of Fort Worth is uncommitted. This is because there are powerful forces lined up on the opposing side of this bill.

Please call Mr. Geren’s office in Austin and voice your support for HB 2094. I am told if enough of you phone it will have an impact. His phone number is (512) 463-0610. If you are from Fort Worth please mention that as well.

Many thanks for all your support!

PS We just kegged a Victory lap batch of IRON THISTLE Scotch Ale - it will be at pubs, bars and restaurants this weekend and next week!

Tony Formby

If you love beer, call Representative Geren, and your own representative to let them know you support HB 2049.

HB 2094 Update

Lee, over at I Love Beer, covered the public hearing for HB 2094.

You can watch the testimony here starting about the 54 minute mark. Thanks to Dan Keeney for the link.

Don't forget to contact your state rep!