Georgia craft brewers want fewer regulations to keep ales flowing
Georgia craft beer industry leaders want state lawmakers to blow the dust off the nearly 100-year-old rules governing beer distribution to help breweries stay afloat.
Why it matters: Industry reps say Georgia's "three-tier system" requiring brewers to pay distributors to move their products to restaurants, liquor stores and other shops is a regulatory burden and some updates are overdue.
State of play: Eventide, Elsewhere and Best End Brewing are among the roughly 15 Georgia craft breweries that closed their doors in 2024.
Changing consumer tastes and rising costs play a role, Joseph Cortes of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild told Axios.
Driving the news: Bipartisan legislation sponsored by state Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell) would allow craft brewers to "self-distribute" up to 3,000 barrels of beer a year to retailers and other breweries and brewpubs, bypassing the framework (PDF) Georgia created after the repeal of Prohibition.
That's nothing compared to surrounding states like North Carolina, which allow breweries to self-distribute up to 50,000 barrels, Cortes said.
Yes, and: Craft brewers are also asking for permission to give away their beer to nonprofits and charities.
Currently, Cortes said, breweries often have to schedule donation deliveries through distributors and pay delivery fees.
Plus: Breweries also want to eliminate the daily cap on to-go sales, another revenue source.
Currently, they can only sell 288 ounces of malt beverages per individual a day, or 6,000 barrels in aggregate a year.
The other side: Wholesalers say the system protects consumers and the industry, and that the legislation potentially applies to some major national and regional brands, not just craft brewers.
"As in all mature business environments, some businesses will fail," Delivering for Georgia, a wholesalers' lobbying association, said in a statement last week in response to the legislation.
"We are sympathetic to craft brewers, but we cannot pass new legislation each time a brewery closes."
What's next: The legislation awaits a hearing in the Senate's regulated industries and oversight committee.
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